Despite its unstable political and economic environment, Tunisia continues to grab top rankings, outpacing its both African and Maghreb neighbors.
The annual Ibrahim Index of Africa Governance (IIAG) recently published by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation ranks Tunisia 1st in the Maghreb and 8th in Africa, with a score of 66 points out of 100 out of 52 countries, ahead of Morocco 14th ( 58 points ), Egypt ‘s 19th (55 points) and Algeria 25th (52.5 points) . The top five spots were occupied by Mauritius, followed, respectively by Botswana, Cape Verde, Seychelles and South Africa.
The fact remains that Tunisia’s lowest score was in the category National Security (cross-border tensions, government involvement in armed conflict, domestic armed conflict, political refugees and internally displaced people) with (33/ 52). It also recorded the largest decline in the “Personal Safety” category down 18.3 points over the last six years. Personal safety concerns, in fact, social unrest, safety of the person, the reliability of the police service, human trafficking and violent crime.
In “Participation and Human Rights,” the report ranks Tunisia 17th with a score of 56.9 points ahead of Algeria 32nd, Egypt 37th, Morocco 40th and Libya 46th. In the category of participation (free and fair executive elections, political participation, electoral self-determination and the effective power to govern), Tunisia came 23rd ahead of Mauritania (30th), Egypt (32nd), Algeria (35th), Libya (41st) and Morocco 48th.
In terms of rights (core international human rights conventions, political rights, labor rights, freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly and civil liberties), Tunisia is ranked 15th ahead Morocco (24th), Algeria (34th) and Egypt (36th ), Libya (42nd).
With regard to Sustainable Economic Opportunity, Tunisia was ranked fourth in Africa with a score of 65.8 points, but down 0.7 percentage points compared to the last 6 years. With this score, Tunisia came ahead of several countries like South Africa (5th), Cape Verde (6th), Morocco (7th), Egypt (10th), Algeria (27th) and Libya (37th).
Regarding public management (statistical capacity, public administration, diversification, budget management, fiscal policy, soundness of banks , inflation, ratio of total revenue to total expenditure… ), Tunisia was also ranked in the fourth place with a score of 69.9 points, down 1.9 points over the last six years. It is followed by Morocco (69.2 points), Rwanda (64 points), and Senegal (63.3 points). Algeria comes in the 21st place, Egypt in the 36th and Libya in the 47th.
In terms of the business environment (competitive environment, investment climate, rural financial services development, customs procedures and bureaucracy and red tape), Tunisia was ranked 14th and it is this time overtaken by Morocco, which came 4th and Egypt (9th) among 52 other countries.
Regarding the “infrastructure” category that is based primarily on electricity, road network, rail network, telephone and IT infrastructure, air transport and digital connectivity, Tunisia, along with Egypt, Morocco and Libya are on the top 10, occupying respectively the 4th, 6th, 8th and 9th places.
In the rural sector category (public resources for agricultural and rural development, policy and legal framework for agricultural organizations, agricultural policy costs…), Tunisia occupies the fifth position just after Egypt (4th). Morocco was ranked 12th while Algeria came 27th and Libya 42nd.
