From a Spontaneous Diversification Regime to Managed Diversification

During these last twenty years, the North Africa countries saw their part in the world trade decreasing and faced relatively average results in economic growth. These performances can be partially explained by an insufficient level of diversification of the productive system. This article aims at answering the question how to boost and strengthen the process of diversification to support the growth and improve the competitiveness of the North Africa Economies. It implies to analyze the determinants of the diversification process in North Africa. Among explanatory factors, it emerges that the investment rate plays a significant role in this process. This analysis calls for a passage of an economic regime where the diversification is “spontaneous” and results from initiatives of economic actors among them private sector, to a regime where the diversification would be more the result of a set of politics more organized and coordinated. Classification JEL: F1, F43, O14