Day: August 19, 2017

Moody’s downgrades Tunisia’s rating to B1, maintains negative outlook

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Moody’s Investors Service has today downgraded the long-term issuer rating of the government of Tunisia to B1 from Ba3 and maintained the negative outlook. Moody’s has also downgraded the foreign currency debt rating of the Central Bank of Tunisia to B1 from Ba3 and maintained the negative outlook, in addition to downgrading the shelf/MTN rating to (P)B1 from (P)Ba3. The Government of Tunisia is legally responsible for the payments on all of the central bank’s bonds. These debt instruments are issued on behalf of the government. The key drivers for…

In One Ear: Sahara power

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Huge solar farm project in the works for Sahara Desert Since we’re all so solar-oriented at the moment, it should be noted that the European Union wants to build a giant solar farm in the Sahara Desert that can power over 2 million European homes, Digital Trends reports (http://tinyurl.com/saharapower). The TuNur Project (www.nurenergie.com/tunur) is a massive undertaking, expected to produce 4.5 gigawatts of power to be transmitted via three submarine cables from Tunisia to Malta, central Italy, and the south of France. The image shown is courtesy of TuNur. “We…

AFRICA – A Legal Guide for Business Investment and Expansion: Tunisia

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1. What role does the government of Tunisia play in approving and regulating foreign direct investment? The Tunisian government places a priority on attracting foreign direct investment. The Tunisian government encourages export-oriented foreign direct investment in key industrial sectors such as electronics, aerospace, aeronautics, automotive parts and textile/apparel manufacturing. To minimize any possible negative impact on domestic competitors and employment, the Tunisian government screens foreign investment that targets the domestic market. In the spring of 2015, the government of Tunisia began consultations with various regional and national stakeholders to establish…

As Tunisia Weighs Women’s Rights Proposal, Some Of The Staunchest Opponents Are Women

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On National Women’s Day in Tunisia, celebrated last Sunday, President Beji Caid Essebsi announced the review of a law that demands that a man receive twice the share of an inheritance as a woman. Changing this would put Tunisia at the forefront of a progressive revolution on an issue that affects many Muslim-majority countries. But Essebsi’s announcement has been met with consternation — not least from many Tunisian women. Mona Ibrahim, the deputy leader of the country’s conservative Ennahdha political party, says she has been inundated with phone calls by female constituents…

Anti-migrant ship ends troubled Med mission

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Defend Europe, the group which sent a ship to waters off Libya to protest and potentially block migrant flows to Europe, has ended its controversial and setback-plagued mission. The multinational network of far-right activists said the chartering of the boat, the C-Star, had been an unqualified success, despite the boat spending less than a week patrolling the area off Libya where hundreds of thousands of migrants have been rescued in recent years. Its crew never got the chance to act on their threats to take any distressed migrant boats they…