International crisis hits Maghreb States

The international crisis has also hit the North African economies, which may see their growth slowed. This is underlined in a study carried out by Econostrum that was published today by the specialised website Wmc. Unlike in the West, the report reads, ''the international financial crisis has had a bigger impact on the real economies in the Maghreb than on the financial system itself." This has slowed down international trade in the region and has led to a loss of monetary reserves, an increase in the balance of payments deficit and an increase of the public debt. According to Sami Mouley, international finance teacher at the University of Tunis, who has compared the situation in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, ''the crisis has caused problems for access to bank loans and for the stock markets. SMEs and medium-size industry get less than 19%of their financing from loans. Companies had to uses their own resources for 51% of their financing." In the view of the expert, Tunisia was hit hardest, also due to the high inflation and the consumer price index rising by 2.2 points in one year. Mouley pointed out that the situation in Algeria is not brilliant, because ''the climate after the financial crisis has led to the development of anti-competitive practices like corruption, particularly in the field of granting licences and certificates." (ANSAmed).