Private sector business leaders expect a positive evolution in the pace of investment during the first half of 2026, compared with the second half of 2025, according to the semiannual business survey on investment in manufacturing industries published Friday by Tunisia’s National Institute of Statistics (INS).
The survey, conducted in November 2025 among a sample of 1,085 companies operating in the manufacturing sector, shows that the opinion balance of business leaders regarding investment in their companies rose to 20% for the first half of 2026, compared with 18% in the second half of 2025.
The opinion balance is defined as the difference between the proportion of respondents expressing a positive opinion (increase in investment) and those expressing a negative opinion (decrease in investment).
The sectors where business leaders were the most optimistic include construction Materials, Ceramics, and Glass Industries, where the opinion balance rose from -2% to 18% between the second half of 2025 and the first half of 2026, miscellaneous industries, which increased from 10% to 17% and textile, clothing, and leather industries, improving from -6% to 0%.
However, business leaders were less optimistic about investment trends in the mechanical and electrical industries, where the opinion balance declined from 23% to 10%.
In the chemical and agri-food industries, the opinion balance remained stable compared with the last half of 2025.
The INS survey also recorded business leaders’ views on investment trends during the second half of 2025. It found that opinions were generally optimistic regarding investment within their companies during that period. The overall opinion balance rose to 21% in the second half of 2025, compared with 18% in the first half of the same year.
The most optimistic views were observed in:
Chemical industries, where the opinion balance rose from 23% in the first half of 2025 to 37% in the second half.
Mechanical and electrical industries, increasing from 24% to 34%.
Miscellaneous industries, rising from 5% to 12%.
On the other hand, the opinion balance declined in Agri-food industries, from 23% to 17%, construction materials, ceramics, and glass industries, from 15% to 10%.
Meanwhile, the opinion balance remained unchanged in the textile, clothing, and leather sector.
