Tunisia economy grew 2 pct in first quarter-PM
Tunisia's prime minister said on Thursday the economy grew 2 percent in the first quarter of 2012, climbing back from a contraction a year ago.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Tunisia-economy...
"Despite the difficult conditions the country has gone through, it has achieved positive numbers in a short period of time. The growth average has risen from minus 1.8 percent (in 2011) to 2 percent," Hamadi Jebali told an economic conference in Beirut.
An uprising in January 2011 forced former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to leave Tunisia after almost 23 years in power, sparking the "Arab Spring" revolts that have swept the region.
Since then, a moderate Islamist party won the election held in the wake of the revolution and leads a coalition government.
The party's leaders have sought to reassure investors and tourists and promised to pursue business-friendly policies, but their left-wing secular opponents have organised successive strikes and protests that have undermined efforts to boost Tunisia's economy, which shrank 1.8 percent in 2011.
A previous finance ministry forecast in March cut expectations for growth to 3.5 from 4.5 percent, citing concerns that strikes and suspended business operations had decreased foreign investment.
Jebali, however, said foreign investment in the first third of 2012 was rising.
"The size of industrial and private sector investment has grown by 42 percent and foreign investment has risen by 35 percent in the first third of 2012."
An uprising in January 2011 forced former leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to leave Tunisia after almost 23 years in power, sparking the "Arab Spring" revolts that have swept the region.
Since then, a moderate Islamist party won the election held in the wake of the revolution and leads a coalition government.
The party's leaders have sought to reassure investors and tourists and promised to pursue business-friendly policies, but their left-wing secular opponents have organised successive strikes and protests that have undermined efforts to boost Tunisia's economy, which shrank 1.8 percent in 2011.
A previous finance ministry forecast in March cut expectations for growth to 3.5 from 4.5 percent, citing concerns that strikes and suspended business operations had decreased foreign investment.
Jebali, however, said foreign investment in the first third of 2012 was rising.
"The size of industrial and private sector investment has grown by 42 percent and foreign investment has risen by 35 percent in the first third of 2012."
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Tunisia-economy...