A disappointing economic growth for Tunisia in the first trimester of 2019 – by Hatem Mestiri

The Tunisian economy witnessed a disappointing growth of 1.1% in the first trimester of 2019 in comparison to the same trimester of 2018 which saw an exceptional growth of 9.5%. The Ministry Of Agriculture, water resources And Fisheries recorded a decline of 0.7% in the first trimester of 2019. The decrease was mainly due to a decline in olive oil production.

In contrast to the same period of  2018, the weak performance of the processing industry continued with a decline of 0.6% in the first trimester of 2019. The reduction was mainly attributed to declines in the food industry with 9.6 %, the textile industry 0.5%  and the mechanical and electrical industry with 0.9%. Furthermore, the building materials industry recorded a rise of 3.2% and the chemical industry by 22.6%. Moreover, The non-manufacturing sector fell by 0.8%. Oil and gas extraction declined by 10.8% and phosphate by 35.3%.

Meanwhile, market services have grown by 2.9% thanks to the tourism sector which in return recorded a growth of 7.2 %. The transport sector increased slightly by 0.4% and the Telecommunications and Financial services sector recorded a 4.1% increase. In the same context, the services provided by the Administration were slightly increased by 0.4%.