São Paulo – The Tunisian economy registered a growth of 0.7% in Q2 this year against 1.7% in Q1, according to data released by the Tunisia National Institute of Statistics this Wednesday (19th) and published by the website of Dubai-based TV station Al Arabiya and African news agency Panapress this Thursday (20th).
Tunisia’s minister of Finance. Slim Chaker, announced recently a downward revision of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth estimates due to the terrorist attacks occurred in the first semester of this year.
The government was expecting the country’s economy to grow 3% this year, but now the forecast call for a growth of only 0.5%. The first terrorist attack in Tunisia happened in March, at the Bardo National Museum, in Tunis, and the second one, in June, happened at the Sousse hotel. The first one left 22 people dead, with the second one resulting in 38 people shot dead, the majority of them British tourists.
The Arab country has 7% of its revenues linked to tourism and the attacks keep foreign visitors away. According to information published at the Al Arabiya website, strikes and demonstrations also interrupted exports of phosphate, an essential sector to the country.
In H1 of this year, the economy registers a 1.2% growth over the same period of last year. Last year, the country posted a GDP growth of 2.3%. The country is trying to revive the economy after concluding the transition from the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine ben Ali, which was overthrown by an uprising in 2011. The country now adopted free elections and a new Constitution.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
