The flow of foreign investment has reached the value of 1,423.2 million Tunisian dinars (MTD) during the first nine months of 2016, declining by 19.4% compared to the same period of 2015 (1,765.6 MTD), with a fall of 49.1% in services, according to the latest statistics released by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) a few weeks before the investment conference.
These investments are spread over 1,379 MTD in foreign direct investment –FDI- (-2.1% compared with 2015) and 44.2 MTD of portfolio investments (-87.6% compared to 2015).
The analysis of the sector distribution of FDI shows that the energy sector (still) accounts for more than half of these investments (780 MTD), representing an increase of 6.8% compared to 2015, followed by the industry sector (473.7 MTD) up 7.1% compared to the first nine months of the year.
Investments earmarked for the services sector amounted to 115.6 MTD at the end of September 2016, which corresponds to a decrease of 49.1% compared to 2015. In terms of the agricultural sector, investments stand at 9.7 MTD (an increase of 9.3% compared to 2015).
After a slight improvement in 2015, foreign investments posted a continuous decline this year due in part to political and social instability in the country besides new legislation (the Investment Code) which was adopted only last September.
To redress the balance, an international investment conference is scheduled at the end of November.
