The Economic Impact Of Chindia on Maghreb countries (Morocco and Tunisia)

TRADE FLOWS Structure of Moroccan and Tunisian Trade Trade with China and India Exports to third countries

Structure of trade in the two Maghreb countries: High commodity concentration with a share of Textile and Clothing exceeding 45% of total exports in Tunisia and 36% in Morocco Consumer goods are still a small share of total imports High geographical concentration of both exports and imports, with the EU share exceeding 70% for Tunisia and 60% for Morocco

A sharp drop in the growth of exports of textile and clothing in 2005 (0.4% only in Tunisia and –8.1% in Morocco) The share of textile and clothing declined in both countries to 45% in Tunisia in 2005 and to 36% in Morocco in 2004.

Trade with China: The two countries export very little to China and exports show no sign of increase in recent years. In contrast, imports from China have sharply risen, although they are still small in terms of shares Trade with India: Exports are much larger than with China, although declining in terms of shares while the shares in imports are much smaller although rising

Foreign Direct Investment Highly fluctuating FDI due to privatization Most FDI comes from the EU while Chinese or Indian FDI has been almost non- existent

Challenges The biggest challenge in both countries is to the Textile and Clothing Sector. EU imports from China and to some extent from India have increased at rapid pace in recent years In Tunisia and Morocco exports have stagnated or even declined The Textile and Clothing sector is very important in both countries in terms of employment, growth and exports