Tunisia's Islamic finance push has political echoes

After a long time of secular rule, the Tunisian government intends to develop Islamic banking. However, there are discussions on whether the leading motive is economic or rather political. Some people see that the initiative as an effort to win the support of voters. On one hand, change of policy is possible to bring economic benefits because the country would have more access to a huge pool of Islamic investment funds from the Gulf. On the other hand, there are some political complications in Tunisia.