Mr. Ferid Tounsi, CEO of the Agency for Promotion of Industry and Innovation (APII), said he expected Tunisia to achieve a growth rate of 1% in the first quarter of 2012, against a growth rate estimated at -1.85%, during the same period of 2011.
During the regular meeting of the Information Unit of the Prime Ministry held Friday, Tounsi said this growth will be achieved thanks to the increase in the investment intentions and projects reported in the first two months of 2011.
Projects declared at the agency’s offices reached 715 against 512 projects during the same period of 2011, up 40%, he added. Tounsi pointed to the the rise in the value of investments during the first two months of 2012, which reached 541 million dinars against 469 million dinars in 2011.
Declared job positions to be generated by these projects increased by 38.5%, from 10,734 to 14,868 jobs.
The increase has involved all industrial activities and foreign investments, which have registered an upward trend in the months of January and February 2012, after a decline during the same period of 2011.
Tounsi said that 55% of the planned investment for 2012 will be made in interior regions.
He added that the number of companies whose establishment was declared at APII offices reached 1,035 in January and February 2012, compared with 1,270 companies, over the same period in 2011.
Tounsi said that several reports made by diplomatic sides on the improvement of the situation in Tunisia have encouraged investors from several countries to settle in Tunisia.
