Tunisia’s foreign investment flows dropped 7.4% to 948.8 million dinars (MD) in H1 of 2021 against 1,020.9 MD during the same period last year.
These investments reached $343.7 million and €286.1 million, respectively, given the development of the dinar’s exchange rate, figures published recently by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (French: FIPA) show.
These investments posted a 31.6% drop as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stagnation of foreign investments across the globe.
The investments are shared out as follows: 928.3 MD in foreign direct investments (against 981.9 MD in 2020, i.e. down 5.5%) and 17.4 MD in portfolio investments (against 39.1 MD in 2020, i.e. down 55.5%).
This downward trend was also seen in the energy sector as investments totaled 266 MD in 2021 in comparison with 338.1 MD in 2020, posting a 21% drop.
Foreign investments in the agriculture sector followed suit, falling by 7.2 MD to 2.1 MD by late June, while those in manufacturing industries fell 1.6% to 567.3 MD against 576.5 MD in same period in 2020. Meanwhile, investments in services rose to 93 MD by late June against 60MD last year.
Foreign direct investments are shared out as follows: 61% for manufacturing industries, 29% for energy sector and 10% for services.
Exclusive of energy, they helped achieve 394 investment operations worth 662.4 MD. This will help generate 7,317 new jobs.
These investments will finance 39 new projects (up to 69.7 MD) that are expected to generate 712 new jobs and fund the extension of 355 already existing projects (592.7 MD) that created 6,606 new jobs.
Investment breakdown showed Greater Tunis had the lion’s share (54%), notably Ben Arous, while the northeast had a share of 19%.
Breakdown by country puts France in the top spot with 222 MD, followed by Italy (84.4 MD), Germany (40 MD) and the United States (37 MD).
