Zine El Abidine Ben Ali GDP more than tripled from $1,201 in 1986 to $3,786 in 2008. Although growth in 2002 slowed to a 15-year low of 1.9% due to drought and lackluster tourism, better conditions after 2003 helped push growth to about 5% of GDP. For about 20 years after 1987, the GDP annual growth averaged nearly 5%. A report published in July 2010 by the Boston Consulting Group ("The African Challengers: Global Competitors Emerge from the Overlooked Continent") listed Tunisia as one of the African "Lions" and indicated the eight such countries account for 70% of the continent's gross domestic product. Steady increases
Sadok Chaabane and the fast erasure of boundaries. On 1 July 1999 President Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali designated him to supervise his election campaign, which was a very significant experience for him. After the presidential campaign, on 17 November 1999, President Zine Al Abidine Ben Ali appointed him to one of the most important portfolios, Higher Education, under the Premiership of Mohamed Ghannouchi; on 4 September 2002, the department of Scientific Research was added to the Ministry, and the President of the Republic appointed him again to the Democratic Constitutional Rally’s Political Bureau. On 11 November 2004 he left the Government,