The Macroeconomic Social Accounting Matrix of Tunisia in 1996

This paper shows the characteristics of the macroeconomic Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) of Tunisia in 1996. It is established that the SAM is one of the data bases of the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Models. These last years, the researchers have intensified the use of the SAM within the framework of the modelling of CGE within their work. The SAM is regarded as the general data base because it contains the whole relationship between the economic agents of a given economy, including the existing relationship on the level of table input – output. The SAM can be presented in two forms: the aggregate form (or macroeconomic) and desegregated form (or microeconomic). In this paper, we will focus on the first form of SAM corresponding to Tunisia during 1996. This study is made up of two sections. In the first section, we will present the construction of the unbalanced Macroeconomic Social Accounting Matrix (SAMmac) of Tunisia in 1996. This section includes three sub-sections. The first sub-section contains the accounts of our SAMmac in 1996. Then, the second sub-section will be devoted to the statistical sources used for the construction of our SAMmac. Finally, the last sub-section will concentrate on our SAMmac which is in imbalance because of the various sources used. We present, in the second section, the balancing of SAMmac of Tunisia in 1996 in basing upon the method known as ' Cross-Entropy '. Initially, in a first sub-section, we will define the ' Cross-Entropy ' approach. Then, in a second sub- section, we will use this last approach to balance our SAMmac. Conclusions follow.