Tunisia: 1998 foreign investments valued at $725 million

Tunisian formal sources stated that Tunisia last year attracted foreign investments worth $725 million in comparison to $400 million in 1997.

The Ministry of Foreign Investment set up statistics that related the increase in investments last year to the privatization of two cement factories in the El-Nekida region and Gabal El-Wast, which were bought by Spanish and Portuguese industrial groups.

Tunisian Minister of Foreign Investments Mohammed El-Fatoush submitted a report to the Cabinet in which he estimated that foreign investments for this year may amount to $550 million.

The statistics said that Tunisia approved more than 38 financial agreements last year valued at $1 billion, including $120 million in the form of grants.