BRIEFS : NORTH AFRICA
Tunisia ’ s graft fight
Worst over for Egypt ?
Egypt has had a tough few years , but the results of Oxford Business Group ’ s inaugural Business Barometer : Egypt CEO Survey suggest the worst is finally over .
Since 2011 the country has seen its GDP growth slow , the value of its currency drop and its foreign reserves shrink . Inflation has spiked , debt is creeping upward and the deficit has widened . The country ’ s tourism sector , a key foreign exchange earner , suffers from security concerns , while a shortage of natural gas has curtailed industrial output .
These challenges have not proven easy to solve , and are made all the more urgent by Egypt ’ s youthful 92 million citizens , who are searching for jobs and hoping for a better life .
However , while there is still a lot of work to do , recovery is – at last – gaining crucial momentum .
For example , this year GDP growth should see a slight increase of 20 basis points . A much-needed process of fiscal reform is also under way , resulting in a new value-added tax , a reduction in fuel subsidies and a slate of proposed privatisations – all of which have the capacity to bring the deficit down to single digits .
The Tunisian government has confiscated the property and frozen bank accounts of eight prominent businessmen arrested in May on suspicion of corruption in an unprecedented government campaign against graft .
Tunisia has been praised as a model of transition after its 2011 revolution . But it still struggles with economic reforms and corruption six years after the fall of President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in protests triggered in part by official graft .
Mounir Ferchichi , head of the Confiscation Committee , a state-financed agency , told reporters the government had seized property and frozen bank accounts of eight businessmen arrested this week on suspicion of involvement in corruption .
Chafik Jaraya , who maintains political contacts in Tunisia and Libya and helped finance the Nidaa Tounes ruling party during the last elections in 2014 , was among those detained , officials said .
" Jaraya was not arrested , but abducted by the Interior Ministry forces . What is important now is his safety and we will speak later about corruption ", said Faycel Jadlaoui , lawyer for Jaraya .
The arrests came days after Imed Trabelsi , the son-in-law of former president Ben Ali , apologized to the Tunisian people for corruption and accused businessmen who worked with him of still being involved in customs crimes .
Prime Minister Youssef Chahed has announced a crackdown on corruption as he comes under pressure from protests in the south over gas production and also from international lenders over slow progress in delivering economic reforms .
The country ' s anti-corruption committee says graft is still widespread since 2011 and that it threatens Tunisia with billions of dollars a year in losses . The committee has said it presented cases against 50 senior state officials believed to be involved in corruption .
Chahed pledged last year in his first speech since taking office that fighting corruption would be a priority for the government , but he said he believed battling graft would be more difficult than fighting terrorism . – Rtr
12 Business Times Africa 2017