VZCZCXRO6825
PP RUEHTRO
DE RUEHTU #2539/01 2850945
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 120945Z OCT 06
FM AMEMBASSY TUNIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2008
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI PRIORITY 0406

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TUNIS 002539 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG (HARRIS) 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR NEA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV ETRD ECON ELAB SMIG LY TS
SUBJECT: TUNISIAN EXPATS MAKE ANNUAL PILGRIMAGE HOME 
 
TUNIS 00002539  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: Each summer thousands of Tunisian expatriates 
return on ferry boats from Europe to visit family, attend 
weddings, and spend their vacations.  The ferry returnees are 
largely working class Tunisians, who moved to Europe in 
search of employment and a chance to improve their social 
standing in Tunisia.  While during the year these expatriates 
provide an important source of foreign currency through 
remittances, during the summer they are a notable source of 
imported cars and goods.  In the face of a 14.2 percent 
official unemployment rate, the GOT has reaped the economic 
benefits of emigration, receiving a significant percentage of 
its foreign currency earnings through the remittances of 
workers that might otherwise be unemployed in Tunisia.  End 
Summary. 
 
----------------- 
Taking the Ferry 
----------------- 
 
¶2. (U) While the airports are full of flights bearing 
European holiday-seekers, each summer Tunisia's ports are 
filled with ferries transporting Tunisian expats back home 
for the summer to visit family members, attend weddings, and 
to spend their vacations.  For a few months each summer, the 
normally orderly ports are transformed into scenes of mass 
chaos as ferry after ferry descends, teeming with both human 
and vehicular cargo.  To add to the throngs, returnees are 
often met on arrival by the entire extended family.  Based on 
anecdotes and observation, only a handful of the ferry 
passengers represent Tunisia's well-heeled elite, returning 
with their Mercedes and other luxury cars in tow.  The vast 
majority of ferry returnees come from Tunisia's working 
class, who have gone to Europe in search of the jobs and 
opportunities that often prove elusive in Tunisia.  The 
Office of Tunisians Abroad estimates that there are 
approximately one million Tunisians, representing ten percent 
of the population, living abroad.  Of these, 740,000 live in 
Europe, 120,000 in other Arab countries, 25,000 in America 
and Australia, and 2,000 in Africa and Asia. 
 
¶3. (U) With official unemployment at 14.2 percent and the 
cost of living on the rise, many working class Tunisians see 
Europe as a place where they can make some money not only to 
raise their standards of living, but also to improve their 
social standing in Tunisia.  For many of these workers who 
spend the year on the lower rungs of European society, the 
annual return home provides a chance to bask in their 
newfound wealth and to show their family and friends that 
they have indulged in the conspicuous material acquisition 
associated with success.  In addition to the evidence of 
excessive retail consumption are also signs of those who have 
forgone the instant gratification of purchasing consumer 
goods and electronics.  One bank manager, who helped 
expatriates at the port open bank accounts, told EconOff that 
for many the goal is to build a house in Tunisia.  He 
recounted stories of expatriates who built their homes room 
by room, scrimping and saving while abroad so that they can 
add on slowly year after year. 
 
------------------- 
Expats as Importers 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (U) The yearly return also presents an opportunity to 
import goods duty-free, a GOT benefit which the ferry 
returnees take full advantage of.  Tunisians residing abroad 
are permitted to import up to 2,000 dinars (roughly 1,500 
USD) worth of goods each year.  They are also granted a 
one-time exemption, intended to facilitate permanent return 
to Tunisia, to import one car and an unlimited amount of 
household effects duty-free.  The exemptions have created a 
duty-free bonanza.  Cars explode with clothes, toys, 
televisions, even refrigerators and tires -- all of which are 
readily available for local purchase, but at higher prices. 
Embassy contacts recount stories of Tunisian expats divorcing 
so that two cars can be imported, instead of the one car 
allotted to a married couple, only to remarry once back in 
Tunisia.  Often these goods are destined for family members 
as gifts, but many duty-free products find their way to the 
markets for re-sale.  Indeed, the summer ferry return has 
become a major source of car importation for a well-developed 
parallel market, with some returnees using their car import 
privileges to make some extra money.  One Embassy FSN 
reported having bought his car through a middle-man, who 
purchased the car from a Tunisian woman employed in France. 
By avoiding the import duty, the cost was a fraction of the 
price he would have paid through a car dealership. 
 
 
TUNIS 00002539  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
...But the Government Benefits, Too 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Although the GOT laments the "brain drain" that has 
resulted from the emigration of educated elite, the 
emigration of the Tunisian working class has been an economic 
boon for the country.  Over the past five years, remittances 
from abroad averaged 1.61 million dinars (approximately 1.21 
million USD) a year, or roughly 5 percent of Tunisia's GDP 
and one fourth of the country's foreign currency earnings. 
The importance of expatriates to the Tunisian economy has not 
gone unnoticed by the government.  During the 2004 election, 
President Ben Ali's 21-point program "For Tomorrow's Tunisia" 
included a section on Tunisians abroad that underlined the 
importance of the expatriate community's support for 
Tunisia's economic development.  In addition, the GOT 
launched a massive effort to welcome Tunisian expats back for 
the summer to remind them of their attachment to their 
"mother country."  In July, the GOT sponsored a National 
Conference of Tunisians Living Abroad focused on maintaining 
the cultural and economic links between Tunisia and its 
expatriate population.  In addition to offering the favorable 
import concessions, the GOT also discussed measures to 
simplify investment procedures for expatriates as well as a 
program to offer Arabic language courses and cultural 
programs for the children of emigrants. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: The yearly return of expatriates highlights 
the sizable, and growing, number of working-class Tunisians 
that have moved abroad in search of employment.  Given the 
high rate of unemployment and the importance of remittances 
to the Tunisian economy, the GOT has been largely supportive 
of the migration of its workers abroad, turning a blind eye 
to the large-scale, sometimes dubious importation of goods. 
Until the employment prospects for workers improve, the 
summer ferry phenomenon in Tunisia will remain an annual 
occurrence.  What remains to be seen is whether in addition 
to cars and refrigerators Tunisia's expatriates will bring 
back ideas about political participation and democracy that 
will also influence the country's future. 
BALLARD