Tunisia's pharmaceutical market seeing strong growth

In a troubled global economy and a world threatened by the spread of epidemics, the Tunisian pharmaceutical sector - which provides 50% of market needs in drugs and 60% in volume - is posting a stronger growth, claim local reports.

The sector, which comprised only three production units in 1987, now boasts 41 units (public and private) employing 3800 people, 37% of which are pharmacists, reports the Tunisian daily newspaper Le Temps. These units produce locally 293 million dinars ($229 million) worth of medicine, with 54% being licensed drugs and 46% of generic drugs.

The Tunisian pharmaceutical industry has been the focus of a cabinet meeting, held last week. This instigated initiatives aiming to achieve 60% of coverage of the domestic demand and boosting pharmaceutical exports by 2016.

Observers note that the growth of pharmaceutical industries in Tunisia, whose privatization started in 1989, is due to the setting up of a legal framework regulating the sector, as well as fiscal and commercial incentives, notes the Le Temps.

The sector imports medical products from European nations such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark, the UK and Germany worth 346 million dinars and exports pharmaceutical products worth 320 million dinars to others, including Libya, Algeria, France and Morocco, as well as Mauritania, Senegal, Jordan, Yemen and Saudi Arabia, the newspaper pointed out.