Tunisia
MSME SUPPORT / COVID19 RESPONSE
MSME Support: In Tunisia, 99% out of the 735.000 private-sector enterprises more than 99% are MSMEs. The Ministrry of Industry and SME is in charge of their development, while a specific SME support policy or a dedicated organization (e.g. SME Agency) are under development. Main issues faced by SMEs are related to access to finance, the burden of bureaucracy, poor market information and unfair competition from informal sector. In response, Tunisia authorities have developed several supporting instruments such as: i) The SME financial restructuring programme, ii) The industrial upgrading programme, iii) The innovation programme, iv) The quality promotion programme and v) the Export Development Programme. A consortium of BSO - led by APII (Agence de Promotion de l’Industrie et de l’Innovation) - is member of EEN-Europe Entreprise Network. Regarding women-led SMEs, the Women's entrepreneurs Support Program (RAIDA) is managed by the Ministry of Women, Family and Childhood. Several international donors funded programmes have been developed to consolidate national initiatives accompanying the SME sector: EU (IRADA, PACE, Innovation and Tourism Diversification programs), EBRD (TA facilities supporting SMEs business upgrading and development), GIZ (Creative Support Program in less-developed areas and pilot implementation clusters programs), World Bank (value chains development program and TASDIR +)…
COVID19 Response: Since March 2020 the Tunisian government has set up a national fund dedicated to fight the COVID-19 epidemic and its socio-economic implications. The Ministry of Finance has launched a digital platform allowing companies to benefit from fiscal and financial support measures such as: i) the postponement of corporate tax declarations, ii) the rescheduling -without penalty- of corporate tax debts (up to 'to 7 years), iii) the postponement of the payment of monthly payments for bank and non-bank financing for 6 months, iv) the creation of a 300 MTD support fund for SMEs, v) the possibility for totally exporting companies in the food industry and health sectors to sell locally up to 100% of their production in 2020 (raising the quota from 30 to 50% for other sectors) read more.
Compendium at
the end of July
2020 of
government
measures and
initiatives of
national
and international
actors to support
MSMEs during
and after the
sanitary crisis.
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SBAC and Working Group
In order to ensure that the regional level activities integrate the national priorities on the two specific topics and translate into impact at the country level, the Programme implementation will rely on the establishment - under the coordination of the SBA Coordinators - of at least two working groups in each of the partner countries, one for MSME Access to Finance and one for MSME Internationalisation. These working groups are formed of relevant policy makers, regulatory bodies, public agencies, representatives of the private sector and – when possible – representatives of the national legislative body; the EU Delegation representatives and relevant development partners will be invited to participate to the working sessions. The working groups will not exceed 15 members of which at least one third will be women.
The Small Business Act national coordinator – SBAC in Tunisa is Mr Ali Gomri, In charge of the International Cooperation Department at the APII - Ministry of Industry and SMEs. Under the SBAC supervision a MED MSMEs working group has been set up to contribute to programme implementation. It is composed of institutional and private sector representatives such as : UTICA, CONECT, CNFCE,….
The Working Groups (WG)
In order to ensure that the regional level activities integrate the national priorities on the two specific topics and translate into impact at the country level, the Programme implementation will rely on the establishment - under the coordination of the SBA Coordinators - of at least two working groups in each of the partner countries, one for MSME Access to Finance and one for MSME Internationalisation.
These working groups are formed of relevant policy makers, regulatory bodies, public agencies, representatives of the private sector and – when possible – representatives of the national legislative body; the EU Delegation representatives and relevant development partners will be invited to participate to the working sessions. The working groups will not exceed 15 members of which at least one third will be women.
The working groups are responsible for:
