Tunisia, which greatly prospered before the Arab Spring, is now a typical African basket case.
Tunisians have become beggars.
In April 2012, The Globe and Mail reports:
http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2409257.html#ixzz1tF9tiHUs
"The Tunisian economy is in rough shape, a huge disappointment to the many Tunisians...
"The economy has yet to emerge from recession
"(the Egyptian economy contracted last year for the first time in a decade and its bond yields are soaring).
"Worse still is the rising jobless rate.
"The Tunisian unemployment rate is 20 per cent, double the pre-revolution figure and comparable to the worst rates in the euro zone countries.
"Youth unemployment is 30 per cent.
"The streets of Tunis are filled with beggars and men standing on street corners and in coffee bars with nothing to do.
"They must be wondering: So what was that all about?
Laughing at the CIA's destruction of a once prosperous and liberal country?
"How did the numbers deteriorate so rapidly?
"Tourism, a crucial economic component, collapsed last year and has made only a tentative comeback.
"The kilometres of wall-to-wall hotels in Hammamet, the vast seaside resort about an hour’s drive southeast of Tunis, are largely empty.
"Five-star rooms can be had for the equivalent of €50 ($66) a night.
"Bank lending to businesses, while finally expanding, is still tight.
"Foreign investment dried up, probably for fear that the Tunisian revolution would be long and bloody or that the new Islamist government would be unfriendly to business.
"Business confidence has yet to return."
Read more: http://www.ctv.ca/generic/generated/static/business/article2409257.html#ixzz1tF9tiHUs
"How did the numbers deteriorate so rapidly?
"Tourism, a crucial economic component, collapsed last year and has made only a tentative comeback.
"The kilometres of wall-to-wall hotels in Hammamet, the vast seaside resort about an hour’s drive southeast of Tunis, are largely empty.
"Five-star rooms can be had for the equivalent of €50 ($66) a night.
"Bank lending to businesses, while finally expanding, is still tight.
"Foreign investment dried up, probably for fear that the Tunisian revolution would be long and bloody or that the new Islamist government would be unfriendly to business.
"Business confidence has yet to return."
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