44 124 jobs were saved thanks the presidential measures taken to help exporting manufacturing businesses cope with the financial crisis, said Industry, Energy and Small and Medium Businesses minister Afif Chelbi when addressing recently the media in Tunis. He stated that the number of workers made redundant because of the crisis reached 5 thousand, which equals the annual average of redundancy recorded in ordinary times.
The minister pointed out to the fact that during the six first months of 2009 Tunisian exports declined by 20 % in comparison with the same period of 2008. They reached 8000 million dinars; say the same amount during the same period in 2007.
This decline, he noted, affected all sectors and particularly the textile-clothing and automobile components ones.
He also stated that several European parent companies said that their Tunisian branches helped achieve in this period of crisis “reasonably fair” growth rates.
It is to be noted that Tunisia hosts 2200 European off-shore industry businesses (against 850 in Egypt and a similar number in Morocco), 99% of managing staff and employees of which are Tunisians.
The minister also indicated that no single project declared in 2008 has been cancelled in 2009 and that the industrial investments declared in the interior development areas increased by 41 pc during the first semester of 2009 in the governorates of Zaghouan, Béja, Jendouba, Siliana, Gafsa, Kairouan, Tozeur, and Kebili.
Besides, he mentioned 29 other projects that have mobilized investments worth 133 million dinars, indicating that during the six first months of 2009 recorded the start of 8 great projects for an amount of 47 MD while 20 great projects already implemented or in process are to create 30 thousand jobs in the local development areas.
These projects were launched in the car and aeronautics components industries. He mentioned the Aérolia aeronautics project in Ben Arous, the German Darxelmaier group’s cable industry project in Siliana and the Japanese Yazaki project in Gafsa.
Addressing the promotional campaign of the Tunisian industry strategic survey for 2016, the minister said that large-scale promotional events have already been held in Europe namely in Nuremberg and Bochum in Germany, and Bale and Bourget in France.
These campaigns, he noted, have found interest among 1000 European business persons to be followed in the second semester of 2009 by similar campaigns in Paris, London, Barcelona, Brussels, and Prague.
With respect to energy, the minister noted that up to June 2009, the national hydrocarbon resources increased by 14 % to reach 3760 thousand tonnes (31% for gas and 3% for petroleum).
He asserted that the goal fixed as part of the presidential “Tunisia of Tomorrow” program to provide 500 thousand households with natural gas by the end of July 2009 is being achieved.
He announced that oil products will not be adjusted during the third quarter of the current year in accordance with the new process in force.
