Although storm clouds of a deteriorating external economic environment loom ahead, the Tunisian economy preserves a sunny outlook, posting promising signs of sustained growth and continuing open market reforms. Foreign investment from Europe and Arab countries is energizing the financial sector, with GCC investors specifically targeting real estate, telecom and petrochemical industries. The agricultural, energy, manufacturing and services sectors performed well in 2007, leading to the highest level of economic growth the country has experienced in the past ten years: 6.3%. The International Monetary Fund predicts that real GDP will continue to grow at over 6% during the next five years. However, the banking sector could prove the Achilles heel of the developing Tunisian economy. The state controlled the economy according to a socialist model for the first three decades after independence. In 1986, a balance of payments crisis coerced the government to realize economic liberalization programs sponsored by the
