Tunisian strike could have cost $800m in investment

Experts predict the strike would have cost around $300m per day Tunisian Finance Minister Salim Besbes has announced that Thursday's planned nationwide strike, which has temporarily been called off, would have had a negative impact on the economy and hindered talks with Japanese investors .
The government reached an agreement with the UGTT union after a long day of negotiations on Tuesday, after the group announced a national strike will take place on Thursday.
Besbes said that Tunisia would have lost out on $800m of investment if a delegation of Japanese investors saw the violent clashes, because they would have thought that the country is socially unstable.
The minister also revealed that social tensions had an impact on the stock market which, after around 12 percent growth in the first six months has retreated to below zero.
A number of Tunisian economists have told Arabstoday that the general strike would have cost the state about $300m per day.
Meanwhile, the latest Transparency International global corruption index has seen Tunisia's corruption score drop by two points. It means the country is now the 75th most corrupt nation in the world, having lost a total of 16 points in two years.
Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said he will support the National Authority for Combating Corruption with the necessary human and financial resources needed to perform its function. President Mohamed Moncef Marzouki added that a number of factors can help Tunisia battle corruption including political will, an independent national monitoring group, and giving civil society organisations and active role.