Tunisia Encourages Firms To Go Public

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

27 May 2010

Tunisia’s Finance Committee has adopted a bill designed to encourage businesses in Tunisia to enter the stock market.

Unveiling details of the bill, Tunisia’s Finance Minister Mohamed Ridha Chalghoum announced that it aims to ease the fiscal burden on companies opening up at least 30% of their capital to the public, by granting them a 20% reduction in corporate income tax (l’impôt sur les sociétés) over a period of five years from the date of entry onto the stock market, provided that this is before December 31, 2014.

The committee members noted that this bill forms part of the key objectives contained in the presidential programme “Ensemble, relevons les défis” (“Together, We Meet Challenges”), which aim to develop the financial market and to strengthen its role in financing economic activity, by improving transparency, and by encouraging at least 30 other businesses onto the stock market by 2014. The members also underlined the country’s interest in embedding a stock market culture in the heart of Tunisian businesses, particularly family concerns, and in identifying solutions to reduce their reluctance to enter the stock market despite the numerous existing incentives available.

Finance Minister Chalghoum outlined the government’s main achievements so far in terms of boosting the financial market, including establishing the legal framework and developing mechanisms designed to regulate the market. Tunisia’s adherence to the international protocol on information exchange reflects its willingness to comply with international standards of regulation, he explained. Chalghoum also emphasized the importance of anchoring a culture of financial transparency among businesses in order to guarantee their financial security and to consolidate their credibility in the eyes of future investors.

Chalghoum alluded to existing measures designed to encourage family businesses to open up their capital to the public by entering the stock market and highlighted the fact that the latest bill forms part of a coherent strategy adopted by the Tunisian government in order to put in place mechanisms to improve the competitiveness of the country’s businesses, thereby accelerating the rate of economic growth.

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