Public enterprises: From provisional correction to strategic planning

Tunisian public enterprises are viewed by the President as a national treasure that must be preserved and enhanced, rather than sold off. This stance underscores the government's commitment to ensuring these entities achieve global and sustainable competitiveness. The President has consistently rejected proposals for their privatization, sale, or marginalization, advocating instead for their restructuring and valorization, recognizing them as integral to national heritage and economic sovereignty.

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our heritage but are also a major element of our national economic sovereignty.

Despite these intentions, Tunisian public enterprises continue to present significant financial challenges. In a climate of fiscal rigidity and limited resources, these companies struggle to generate enough revenue to perform effectively and, crucially, to self-finance. While reforms have been initiated to equip these enterprises with better performance tools and governance, their progress is hampered by the complexity of their debts and difficulties in implementing reform programs. The interplay between the state, public enterprises, banks, and social security funds leaves limited room for maneuver.

Some analysts attribute the difficulties partly to the enterprises themselves, arguing that they often focus on immediate problems without adequately addressing future challenges. This tendency towards managing the present, or "gestion du provisoire," leads to a concentration on urgent issues at the expense of strategic long-term planning, potentially blocking the reform process.

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our units act, often, on the failures and current problems without worrying about the challenges and prospects of the next stage.

This management deficit highlights the repeated calls from the President for a change in approach and vision. The goal is to enable public enterprises to anticipate challenges and avert potential crises. Analysts emphasize the need to transition from a logic of immediate correction to well-targeted, long-term planning. This strategic shift hinges on empowering public structures to drive their own reform dynamics, a crucial step for their sustainability and contribution to national economic sovereignty.

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a passage from a logic of immediate correction to a well-targeted long-term planning.