Tunisia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew 2.8 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2018 compared to the second quarter of 2017, and 0.6 percent compared to the first quarter of 2018. To this end, the national economy grew 2.6% in the first half of the current year, compared to 1.9% in the same period of 2017, according to the latest statistics from the National Institute of Statistics (INS), released Wednesday.
The value added of the manufacturing sector rose by 0.8% in the second quarter of 2018, compared to the same period of the previous year.
This increase is particularly due to the rise in the value added of vital sectors, such as food industries (+ 2.4%), textiles, clothing and footwear (+ 2.6%) and chemical industries (+4.9%).
On the other hand, other sectors recorded a drop in their value added, like the building materials, ceramics and glass industries (-2.3%) and the mechanical and electrical industries (-0. 6%).
Non-manufacturing industries posted a 1.3% increase in the second quarter of 2018, compared to the same period of 2017.
This growth is explained by the increase in the value added of the construction sector (3.6%), the recovery of growth for the mining sector (0.3%), and by a smaller decline in the value added of the oil and natural gas extraction sector compared to the second quarter of 2017, i.e. -1.4% against -14%.
The electricity and gas production sector also recorded a slight decline in its value added of 0.5%.
In addition, the value added in the agriculture and fishing sector posted significant growth of around 9%, while the services sector continued its sustained growth, posting a 3.6% increase, due to the increase in the value added of all its activities, among others, the hotel and restaurant industry (+ 11.5%), transport (+ 4.7%) and financial services (+5, 5%).
