The Council of Joint Chambers, on Thursday, reiterated its urgent call for the launch of a «vast and ambitious» plan to boost national and international investment capable of generating sustainable growth, contributing to job creation and integrating priority regions into development dynamic.
In a press release entitled “cry of distress of Tunisia’s partners”, the council deplored the political instability which is in their eyes “a risk factor and a real bottleneck”, stressing that “the Tunisian business site has become less and less attractive”.
In this regard, it stressed the need to take urgent measures to improve the investment climate through a program of digitalization of administrative procedures related to economic activity (investment, foreign trade, employment and training).
It also emphasized the need to stabilize the tax system applied to foreign investment, to speed up processing new or extended investment files and revise the foreign exchange code.
The same source also deemed it essential to designate a single contact person in the office of the Prime Minister to whom the chambers could intervene to propose solutions to potential difficulties that foreign investors may encounter.
While expressing their concern about the deterioration of the investment environment in the country, business leaders stressed that “the absence of any clear message from the public authorities, capable of restoring the confidence of foreign operators operating in Tunisia, may further exacerbate the country’s difficulties.
“After more than ten years of a wait-and-see attitude, great political instability, a fiscal framework that penalizes entrepreneurship and investment and disruption of the production cycle by social protests that are often unregulated and uncontrolled, Tunisia risks losing a large part of its foreign investment,” the same source warned.
According to the council, this wait-and-see attitude and concern is reflected in the significant propensity of companies that are still hesitant to decide on extensions or future increase of investments in Tunisia.
Despite this difficult context, the council affirmed that it still believes in Tunisia and continues to support all initiatives and efforts aimed at achieving significant improvements in the administrative and regulatory business environment and regaining investor confidence.
