Egypt and Tunisia take divergent paths

Political instability and uncertainty tend to hurt investment but while Tunisia has embraced inclusion and should see its economy improve, Egypt is slower to reform, writes Ishac Diwan.

IT HAS been five years since Egypt and Tunisia underwent regime change, and both countries are still suffering from low economic growth, large fiscal deficits, high unemployment, and rising public debts.

Having failed to institute reforms on their own, both have turned to the International Monetary Fund, which entered into an arrangement with Tunisia in 2013 and has just approved a $12 billion loan program for Egypt — the country’s first since 1991, and the largest ever for a Middle Eastern country.