Tunisia: Foreign investments fall by 14% in one year
#EconomicAnalysis #Economy #Investment #TUNISIA
Denys Bédarride
Saturday 29 August 2020 Last update on Saturday, August 29, 2020 At 9:00 AM

Total gross incoming foreign direct investment flows to Tunisia during the first half (S1) of 2020 fell by -14.2% over one year. France remains the leading provider of investments and jobs in Tunisia with 42% of total investment flows in H1 2020.

According to data from the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA), incoming international investment flows in Tunisia decreased by -14.2% on H1 2020 year-on-year (yoy), to 1.11 billion TND (346 M EUR).

Investment flows, which represent almost all of the foreign investment flows (96.5% in H1 2020), fell by -14.2% yoy. to TND 1.07 billion (EUR 333 million) in H1 2020, while portfolio investment flows, more residual, decreased by -14.3% yoy. at 39 M TND (12 M EUR) in H1 2020.

Investment flows fell in all sectors except agriculture in H1 2020 (+ 18.0% yoy to 7.4 M TND), which represents a minimal share of inward FDI flows in Tunisia ( less than 1%).

Conversely, investment flows fell in the energy (-9.0% yoy to 446 M TND), industry (-13.3% to 577 M TND) and services (- 50.8% at 44 M TND).

France remains the leading foreign investor in Tunisia with non-energy investment flows of 262 M TND in H1 2020, i.e. 41.7% of total FDI flows, but this amount is down -1.6% per year. compared to H1 2019.

Luxembourg becomes the second investor (106 M TND, + 1926.1% yoy) ahead of Italy (76 M TND, + 5.3% yoy), Germany (33 M TND, -68.7% yoy) and Qatar (32 M TND, + 108.3% yoy).

France is also the first foreign country to create jobs in Tunisia excluding energy (2,328 new jobs), followed by Switzerland (702) and Austria (650).