More than three years since the events of the Arab Spring, the five North African countries – Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia – are still going through a difficult transition. This study provides an overview of Italian trade and direct investment in the region. The main stylized facts are the following:
- among the countries of the European Union, Italy is the region’s largest trading partner
- the region is a crucial source of energy, supplying 31 per cent of the oil and 44 per cent of the natural gas that Italy imports
- compared with the EU average, Italian exports are specialized in refined petroleum products and capital goods.
The primary objective of Italian firms’ direct investment in North African countries is to enter new markets rather than to secure lower production costs.
