North Africa Summary #2

In north africa the economy has been very diverse. A servey found that one in ten people had paid a bribe in the past 12 months. Many of these bribes had been payed to police. In africa 42% of people paid a bribe to obtian a service. France is compensating thousands of vetrens who fought against thier own countrymen inorder to prserve French colonial rule in Algeria. Also the Cotonou agreement was made. This revised the old Lome conventions which allowed mineral and manufactored goods to enter European Community free of duty. Since the World Trade Orginazation regulations deemed in incompatibe they changed it so that goods whouldnow be open to European goods. In Europe the sugar farmers prices have been cut by 36 percent, reducing the amount of farmers. African sugarcane producers now have a greater demand for thier product. Also the French oil group Total is investing 1bn euros in a petrochemical complex in Arzew (western Algeria). In Tuisia the Gulf Finance House is setting up the Tunis Financial Harbour, which has an estimated value of $3 billion.