Tunisia: Foreign Capital Amounts to 55% of Total Investments in 2019

Business

January 27th, 11:15am

Tunis - Mongi Saidani

A carpet vendor displays his stock at a souq in Tozeur on May 3, 2014. (AFP)

Foreign capital from countries, including Germany, Spain, France, Italy, the US, Netherlands, UK and Singapore, contributes to about 55 percent of Tunisia’s total investments, announced President of the Tunisian Investment Authority (TIA) Beligh Ben Soltane. Ben Soltane expected the authority to launch three new electronic services in 2020, including the issuing the electronic residence card, submitting requests for offers relating to lands, and other support services of the al-Douane and National Social Security Fund. The Authority provides six electronic services pertaining to investment, such as requesting permits, submitting investment applications and requesting incentives relating to investment. Last year, the Authority received 33 investment requests, valued at $703 million, and provided about 14,000 job opportunities. The average investment in each project was estimated at about $5 million and provides about 500 jobs. Tunisia’s unemployment rate is estimated at 15.3 percent, but reaches record levels in poor areas. International funding institutions have called on Tunisia to increase the growth rate to about 6 percent to accommodate the largest number of unemployed citizens. They said the expected 2 percent growth rate during the current year will not be able to bridge the gap between job offers and demands in the market. Last year, the industrial sector ranked first with about 70 percent of investments, with over 20 projects, followed by the renewable energy sector with 15 percent, the agriculture sector with 12 percent and the services sector with about 3 percent. The Tunisian Investment Authority was established in 2017, following the issuance of a new investment law, through which authorities aim to restore one of the country's most important economic stimulus; which is investment whether local of foreign.

from Asharq AL-awsat https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/2101666/tunisia-foreign-capital-amounts-55-total-investments-2019