Tunisia central bank raises interest rates to reduce high inflation

The Central Bank of Tunisia raised its key interest rate to 5.75 percent from 5.0 percent on Monday to deal with  inflation that has hit the highest level since 1990. The increase of the interest rate is the first under new central bank governor Marwan El Abbasi, who pledged last month after his appointment was approved by parliament to take “extraordinary measures” to end an economic crisis and bring down inflation. Tunisia’s annual inflation rate rose to 7.1 percent in February from 6.9 percent in January, its highest reading for…

Export revenues of organic dates up 35%

Export revenues of organic dates for the current season jumped by 35.52%, compared with the last season. This upward trend is also the outcome of 21.01% leap  in the quantities exported, according to the data provided by the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries. The quantities of organic dates exported, since the start of the season (October 10, 2017) to March 2, 2018, managed to reach nearly 4.690,6 tonnes worth 34.8 million dinars (MD) against 3.876,1 tonnes which corresponded to 25.7MD during the same period of the previous season.…

Emmi profit growth accelerates on minority interests

Just-food presents the key metrics from company financials in bitesize format, with analyst insight and social media comment alongside graphs illustrating a business’ historical performance to give you an easy-to-read digest of the numbers you need to know. Swiss dairy company Emmi reported a 15% increase in full-year net profits due to a reduction in “minority interests”, which fell by CHF10.8m (US$11.5m), mainly related to Mittelland Molkerei. Commenting on the results, chief executive Urs Riedener said: “Emmi made up a good deal of ground in the second half of the…

Tunisia’s foreign exchange reserves are at ‘critical’ levels (experts)

The Tunisian Central Bank announced that the country’s foreign exchange reserves fell to 11.3 billion Tunisian dinars, equivalent to about 4.6 billion dollars, which covers no more than 80 days of the value of the country’s imports, after it was covering 82 days. Experts said that this decline warns of many risks that Tunisia may face in case the reserves continue to fall to lower levels. The Central Bank attributed this decline to the country’s need to enhance the mobilization of  foreign exchange resources at the beginning of each year,…

China’s outbound trips reach 130 million

China’s outbound travel market raked up 130 million trips in 2017, a 7% increase on 122 million trips recorded in 2017. Thailand and Japan continue to be the two hottest outbound destinations. But with more flight connections, better exchange rates and fewer visa restrictions, destinations such as Morocco, Turkey and Tunisia are seeing a huge growth in visitors from China. The figures are highlighted in a Ctrip 2017 China Outbound Tourism Travel Report compiled with the  China Tourism Academy (CTA), a specialised institute under China National Tourism Administration. Recognised as…

Tunisia’s public debt reaches 69.9% of GDP, end of December 2017 (Finance Ministry)

Tunisia’s public debt reached, at the end of December 2017, 69.9% of GDP against 61.9% in 2016, according to the December 2017 Public Debt Monthly Brochure posted by the Finance Ministry on its website. In terms of value, outstanding public debt rose from 55 921.5 MD (million dinars) for the whole of 2016 to 68,073.7 MD at the end of December 2017. The external debt stood in December 2017 at 46,785.1 MD (48.04% of GDP). It includes 50% of multilateral debts, 14% of bilateral debts and 36% of debts contracted…

New business incubator specialising in ICT opens at ISTIC Borj Cedria

A new business incubator specialising in new technologies, on Friday, opened at the Higher Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (ISTIC) of Borj Cedria, TAP reports. This incubator will provide to young higher education graduates wishing to create companies the mechanisms of support, training, coaching and assistance. At the opening ceremony chaired by Slim Khalbous, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Slim Feriani, Minister of Industry and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), a cooperation agreement was signed between the two ministries and other agreements related to the establishment…

SONEDE sets programme for desalination plants

Tunisia’s water utility, SONEDE, has shared details of recently completed and future desalination projects, including groundwater and seawater plants. The utility is poised to open a 50,000 m3/d capacity seawater desalination plant at Djerba in 2018, at a cost of TND 180 million ($74 million). Two more seawater desalination plants, at Gabes, costing TND 200 million ($82 million), and Sfax, with a price tag of TND 900 million ($371 million) are in the planning stages. The details of the work were shared by SONEDE president and director general Mosbah Helali,…

Thomas Cook expands Tunisia for summer 2019

Thomas Cook has launched more regional flights to Tunisia as part of its summer 2019 programme, launching on Thursday (March 1). Cook has announced additional regional flying for the launch of summer 2019, with new flights and holidays from Cardiff and Belfast to Tunisia and the extension of Manchester to Marrakech, TTGmedia reports. Chris Mottershead, managing director at Thomas Cook UK, said: “We are delighted to be launching our summer 2019 holidays this early, with even more choice for our customers looking to travel further afield thanks to the addition…

Tunisia calls for Mediterranean label

The agriculture minister has urged French interprofessional organisation Interfel to support the development of a label for the Med region Tunisia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, Samir Taieb, has called on representatives of French trade association Interfel to work with their Tunisian counterparts to create a ‘Mediterranean label’, Eurofruit reports. During this week’s Paris International Agricultural Show, Taieb held talks with Interfel president Bruno Dupont, in the presence of Tunisia’s ambassador to France, Abdelaziz Rassaa, and representatives of various Tunisian interprofessional groups, the source noted. According to a…