Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2014

Paving the Way for Micro-, Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in the Southern Mediterranean

Rym Ayadi, Willem Pieter De Groen

January 2014

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

The upheavals of the Arab Spring in the southern Mediterranean led to domestic and international demands on the governments in the region to implement reforms aimed at enhancing business and investment conditions especially for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), which carry out an overwhelming majority of the region’s economic activity. A comprehensive survey among some 600 high-growth potential MSMEs in Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia identified and ranked the key obstacles impeding their high-growth potential. This Policy Brief summarises the main results and policy recommendations that can be drawn from this survey, which has been analysed in depth by Ayadi & De Groen (2014).