The Political Economy of IMF and World Bank Interventions: Is Tunisia Really a Model Student?

Abstract

Since it adopted stabilisation and structural reforms in 1986 under the International Monetary Fund and World Bank auspices, Tunisia has been hailed as a model student. The country has never defaulted on its debt repayment, has managed to sustain a healthy growth rate, has stabilised its macroeconomic indicators, and substantially reduced poverty rates (Lamloun and Hibou 2002). Compared to Tunisia most of the rest of the MENA region seems to have had somewhat disappointing results after implementing Structural Adjustment Programmes (Dasgupta et al 2001, Nabli and Veganzones-Varoudakis 2007).