Study On The Impact Of International Trade On Economic Growth In Tunisia

Over the years,the increasing role of international trade in the economy of Tunisia has become evident,particularly with the impetus from the country's export sector.Mainly this study investigates how the international trade affects economic growth in Tunisia by qualitative and quantitative analysis.For quantitative analysis,the Relative Comparative Advantages(RCA)index has been employed to identify the comparative advantages of Tunisian trade.In addition,the Ordinary Least Squares regression(OLS)model has been employed with data from Tunisia covering 1995 to 2015 to identify the impact of Tunisian trade on the economic growth.The quantitative analysis results reveal that: Tunisian exports generally do not have a linear comparative advantage,the overall international competitiveness is weak and it shows a downward trend.Our findings are promising and supporting the view of the international trade and its impact on economic growth of the developing nations.The empirical evidence indicates that the international trade has beneficial effects on economic growth and suggests the non-fragility of the linkage between economic growth and international trade for Tunisia.Accordingly,Tunisia must have more effective trade openness,particularly by productively controlling import levels,in order to boost its economic growth through international trade.