prices for oil, petrochemicals, and liquified natural gas are
expected to remain high, and foreign direct investment continues to
grow to support expanded capacity in the energy sector. The
government is coping with a rise in violent crime.

Tromelin Island
no economic activity

Tunisia
Tunisia has a diverse economy, with important agricultural,
mining, energy, tourism, and manufacturing sectors. Governmental
control of economic affairs while still heavy has gradually lessened
over the past decade with increasing privatization, simplification
of the tax structure, and a prudent approach to debt. Real growth,
averaging 5% for the latter half of the last decade, slowed to a
15-year low of 1.9% in 2002 because of agricultural drought, slow
investment, and lackluster tourism. Better rains in 2003, however,
pushed GDP growth up to an estimated 6 percent, and tourism also
recovered after the end of combat operations in Iraq. GDP growth
remained at 6% in 2004. Tunisia has agreed to gradually remove
barriers to trade with the European Union over the next decade.
Broader privatization, further liberalization of the investment code
to increase foreign investment, improvements in government
efficiency, and reduction of the trade deficit are among the
challenges for the future.

Turkey
Turkey's dynamic economy is a complex mix of modern industry
and commerce along with a traditional agriculture sector that in
2001 still accounted for 40% of employment. It has a strong and
rapidly growing private sector, yet the state still plays a major
role in basic industry, banking, transport, and communication. The
largest industrial sector is textiles and clothing, which accounts
for one-third of industrial employment; it faces stiff competition
in international markets with the end of the global quota system.
However, other sectors, notably the automotive and electonics
industries, are rising in importance within Turkey's export mix. In
recent years the economic situation has been marked by erratic
economic growth and serious imbalances. Real GNP growth has exceeded
6% in many years, but this strong expansion has been interrupted by
sharp declines in output in 1994, 1999, and 2001. Meanwhile, the
public sector fiscal deficit has regularly exceeded 10% of GDP - due
in large part to the huge burden of interest payments, which
accounted for more than 40% of centra