Investments reported in industry in the first five months of 2018 fell by 12.8 percent to 1.6 billion dinars compared to the same period of 2017, due to the decline in investment intentions in the mechanical and electrical industries sector by 54.4%, in the textile and clothing industry by 24.4% and in the agro-food industries by 23.6%.
According to the May 2018 business bulletin, published by the Investment Promotion and Innovation Agency (APII), the number of projects reported reached 1905 during this period, increasing by 6.2% compared to 2017.
These projects will create 27,658 jobs, down 4.5%, compared to the first five months of 2017,
APII also reported that total investment in services fell, in turn, by 41.9% to 580.3 million dinars (MD).
The number of projects reported in the services sector increased by 21.8% to 5,054 projects in May 2018.
These projects will result in the creation of 19,626 jobs, up 9.6%. % compared to last year.
According to the APII, exports of the industrial sector grew from 12 billion dinars in May 2017 to 15.2 billion dinars in May 2018, posting an increase of 26.8%.
As for industrial imports, they went up by 17.7% during the same period.
Therefore, the commercial balance of the industrial sector stood at -3640.3 MD during the first five months of 2018 against -4021.5 MD in 2017.
The increase in industrial exports is mainly due to higher exports of agri-food industries by 112.3% to 1 909.8 MD.
Exports of building materials, ceramics and glass industries were also up, (+ 36%), along with various industries (+ 30.5%), leather and footwear (+ 26.9%) industries, textile and clothing industries (+ 22.3%) and mechanical and electrical industries (+ 19.5%).
TunisianMonitorOnline (TAP)
