Tunis: Intended industrial investments up 20.8%

The intended investments in the industrial sector went up by 20.8%, during the first eleven months of the present year, compared with last year's same period, according to the November 2011 issue of the Industry Promotion and Innovation Agency (APII) newsletter. During the first eleven months of 2011, the intended investments in the industrial sector reached 3,364 million dinars (MTD), compared with 2,785.1 MTD in 2010, specifies the newsletter. The number of declared projects recorded an increase of 1.1%, during the first eleven months of 2011. These ventures will generate some 74,330 jobs, against 78,917 during the first eleven months of 2010, i.e., a drop of 5.8%. By sector of activity, the food industries grew by 41.5%, with investments of 751.3 MTD during the first eleven months of 2011, against 531 MTD for the same period of 2010. The same is also true of the intended investments in the diverse industries which went up by 34.8% to reach, during the first eleven months of 2011, 458.8 MTD, against 304.4 MTD in 2010. A growth has also been recorded in investments in the sectors of building equipments and ceramics which grew by 31.2%, rising from 312.1 MTD during the first eleven months of 2010 to 409.6 MTD during the same period of 2011. The electrical and mechanical industries recorded a growth of 21.7% (up from 730.2 MTD to 888.3 MTD) and 16.9% (from 574.4 MTD to 671.4 MTD), respectively. Besides, other sectors recorded a drop during the first eleven months of 2011. The intended investments in the sector of textile-dressing dropped, during the first eleven months of 2011, by 36.2%, declining from 268.2 MTD to 171.2 MTD, while those of the sector of leather and footwear went down by 53.5% (13.4 MTD against 28.8 MTD).