This report was developed by the OECD in close co‑operation with the Delegation of the European Union to Tunisia, the Central Bank of Tunisia, the Ministry of Finance, the Competition Council and other Tunisian stakeholders, who improved the team’s understanding of the markets in focus and added value to the analysis.
Our thanks go to Marco Stella and Carl Daspect from the Economic section of the EU Delegation in Tunis, and Nabil Felfel head the banking supervision department of the Central Bank of Tunisia for the good co‑operation, for providing support and contributing to the task of co‑ordinating a project of this complexity.
We are grateful to the Central Bank of Tunisia and to the Ministry of Finance their co‑operation, commitment and support throughout the project. In particular, the authors are thankful to Marouane Abassi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia and his team, especially Nadia Gamha,Vice‑governor, Mourad Khazri Mersni, Asma Mebazaa, Mohamed Ali Naffouti, and Fethi Akkari from the banking supervision team, Jamel Ben Yaakoub and Fathi Abdelkader from the Financial Inclusion Observatory, and Mohamed Sadroui and Nizar Chaddad from the payment system team as well as Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia. Minister of Finance and her team, led by Sonia Zoghlami.
We are also grateful to Ridha Ben Mahmoud, former President of the Competition Council and the whole team, especially Fathia Hammed, former Vice‑President, Mohamed Mnasser, Vice‑President and Mohamed Cheikhrouhou, Rapporteur Général for their valuable contribution.
The OECD also wishes to express its gratitude for the valuable discussions with the management and staff of the different government departments and associations interviewed, including:
Institut Tunisien de la Compétitivité et des Etudes Quantitative (ITCEQ)
Banque de Financement des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises (BFPME)
Société Tunisienne de Garantie (SOTUGAR)
Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC)
La Poste tunisienne
Societé Monétique Tunisie (SMT)
Conseil Bancaire et Financier (CBF)
Consumer Defence Organisation (ODC)
We would also like to thank the management and staff of the different banks and financial institutions, payment service providers and credit information bureaus for the informative exchange and for their valuable input though direct interviews.
The project team had productive meetings with international partners involved in banking related projects and the authors would like to thank particularly the International Money Fund, the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KFW) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The opinions expressed in the report do not necessarily reflect the views of the above‑mentioned organisations or individuals.
This report was prepared by Tommaso Majer within a team led by Saïd Kechida composed of Matteo Giangaspero, Takuya Ohno, Matei Farcas and Manuela Sanchez Parra from the OECD Competition Division and Caroline Roulet from Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Division under the strategic supervision of Ori Schwartz, Head of the OECD Competition Division. Federica Maiorano and Richard May also of the Competition Division, peer reviewed it and provided extensive and valuable comments. Special thanks go to the OECD experts who provided their input and offered useful comments and feedback. These include Nicolas Pinaud, Deputy-Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs and Hans Christiansen, Miles Larbey, Chiara Monticone and Iota Nassr from OECD’s Capital Markets and Financial Institutions Division. We would also like to thank EMRHOD Consulting for their contribution as well as the consumers and MSMEs who participated to the surveys and provided valuable input.
The report was edited by Padraic Convery and prepared for publication by Erica Agostinho of the Competition Division.