Tunisia

Tourism saves the economy…

Tunis Stock Exchange closed the trading of the last week of January with a rise in its main index at a point of 4498.42 by 1.99%, and the volume of trading reached 22.649 million dinars. “Tunisair” ended trading with an increase of 18.5 %, followed by the Agricultural Production Company in Tabulbah with an increase of 16.57 %. The capital markets saw an increase of 2.2 %. The degradation included the prices of the Tunisian Company of Equipment, which retreated by 12.77 %, and “New Body Line” company which retreated by 3 0.74%. Recently, Tunisia and Iran have signed agreements to promote trade and economic exchanges within the framework of economic cooperation between the two countries where Iran allocated about $125 million to encourage Iranian investors to establish private partnership projects in the sectors of phosphate, cars and oil. Some official figures revealed a slow growth in the Tunisian economy during 2013 to 2.4%, compared to 3.2% last year. The Tunisian Central Bank expects the economy to grow 3.8% in 2014. The agricultural sector has seen a negative growth of 3.3%, influenced by the low production of cereals this year, which was among the factors that caused the decline in growth. Regarding the agricultural investment value, it rose 36.5 %, estimated at 359.8 million dinars, during the first nine months of 2013, compared to 263.6 million dinars in the same period of the previous year. The government currently counts on the agriculture investment as part and parcel of the current scheme that aims at boosting economy and creating 3503 job opportunities. Tunisia shall reduce the inflation rate amounted to 6.1% and the trade deficit amounted to 8.3%, and to reduce the unemployment rate amounted to 15.7 %. Tunisia has received during 2013, six million three hundred thousand tourists, recording a growth rate of 5.3% compared to 2012. Subsequently, revenues rose by 2%, yet the ratio remains distant from 9% that was recorded in 2010. Tunisia was planning to hit a number of 7 million tourists in 2014, compared to 6 million in 2012 and to achieve revenues of more than 3.4 billion dinars. The Tunisian Ministry of Tourism explained in a statement that the number of tourists who visited Tunisia in the first two months of the year amounted to 646,751 tourists, with an increase of 22.6%, moving closer to the level recorded in 2010. The ministry said that the sector’s revenues amounted to 352.9 million dinars (223.6 million USD) by a rise of 2.9% as compared with the same period of 2013.