Representatives of international financial institutions call for freeing SMEs from excessive regulations

Participants in a seminar on the “Internationalisation of Tunisian small and medium-sized Tunisian” called to free Tunisian SMEs wishing to open onto the international market from excessive regulations.

This access is hampered, according to them, by two major obstacles namely the regulation of foreign exchange and logistics.

During this seminar organised by the Confederation of Tunisian Citizen Enterprises (CONECT) Tuesday, in Tunis, participants pointed to the port of Rades through which transits most of the goods intended for export, stressing the imperative to improve its performance.

President of the CONECT, Tarek Cherif deplored, in this regard, the high cost of transit of goods and the slowness in processing containers.

Resident Representative of the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Georges Ghorra considered that the poor performance of the port of Rades leads to a deterioration in the competitiveness of Tunisian products for export.

He urged, in this regard, liberalising small and medium enterprises, improving the exchange code so that they can easily export their products.

«The private sector is extremely competitive in Tunisia. It is able to capture at least the African and European markets. We just need to let it work and not put obstacles in the way,” he said.

In the same vein, the Resident Representative of the World Bank in Tunisia, Alexander Arrobbio stated that Tunisia is capable of becoming a bridge between Europe and Africa, insofar as it enjoys a qualified human capital and innovative SMEs capable of developing in different sectors.

It is, therefore, “imperative to facilitate access to finance, improve logistics and relax the regulations, even if the related reforms require time.”

He also called on Tunisia to take advantage of the current energy crisis in Europe due to the war in Ukraine, by attracting and developing investment in the renewable energy sector.

Arrobbio recalled that European countries now want to import a decarbonized energy at an affordable cost.

For his part, Minister of Economy and Planning, Samir Saied, stressed the need to strengthen economic diplomacy especially with African countries, to enhance the presence of SMEs in the continent.

“The Department of Economy works in the context of a public-private dialogue to improve the investment climate and remove obstacles hindering the opening of SMEs on the international market”.

Regarding the regulation of foreign exchange, the Minister stressed that it is important today to have more confidence in entrepreneurs who earn foreign currency.

“We are aware of the difficult situation of the dinar but ex post control can be done for exporting companies.

Director General of Foreign Exchange Operations at the Central Bank of Tunisia, Raoudha Boukadida said, in this regard, that the draft code of exchange includes a section dedicated to the internationalisation of companies in Tunisia, which provides measures to help them expand into the international market.