Lobna Abid

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the challenges that microfinance and the sustainability of its institutions (MFIs) can face when dealing with financial crisis and the alleviation of global poverty. Apart from its economic and social effects, microfinance has come to respond to increasing demands and take the environmental aspect into account, hence, the appearance of green microfinance. The pivotal role of the latter is to foster economic growth and investment through increasing the quality of the environment and the social inclusion. In this context, Tunisia has shown interest in the introduction of a new regulation that facilitates the allocation of green micro-credits. In order to combat poverty and reduce unemployment, ecological credits have been granted by the ENDA Tamweel microfinance institution. The ultimate goal of this study is to present the tendency of this new financing mechanism in Tunisia to achieve sustainable environmental development.

In most economies, strategies that promote greater equity and less precariousness have become more than a necessity for reducing the effects of poverty. Thus, the focus is on inclusive growth by policy makers and institutions in charge of development and poverty alleviation. For Tunisia, there was a broad consensus on the need for structural reforms to promote inclusive economic growth that reduce social inequalities and regional disparities. This article aims to determine a synthetic indicator of inclusive growth in Tunisia. The method used is the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The purpose of the latter is to provide weightings that take into account the variability of the data through time. The results found showed that Tunisia’s Inclusive Growth Index (IGI) deteriorated during the period from 1980 to 2017, falling from 5.35 to –3.40. The Tunisian government must embark on deep structural reforms to open up channels for a more egalitarian and inclusive society and put the country on a path to more sustainable development.