Foreign investments in Tunisia increased by 28.1% at the end of September 2025. An increase which, at first glance, could seem cyclical – a simple rebound after several years of turbulence. Yet, close reading of FIPA data reveals a deeper movement : the strong comeback of the industrial sector, the true backbone of FDI and the main driver of this dynamic.
A quantitative recovery, but above all structural
With 2,588.7 million dinars of cumulative investments, Tunisia has one of its best performances since 2015. The progression is regular:
- +28.1% vs. 2024
- +39.7% vs. 2023
- +58.1% vs. 2022
It is therefore not an “optical effect”, but a trend which has been asserting itself for three years.
Above all, foreign direct investments (FDI) form the bulk of this increase: 2,536 MD, up 27.7%.
Portfolio investments, despite an increase of 56.8%, remain anecdotal: 52.7 MD.
In other words, the capital that arrives is productive, long-term, and anchored in the economic fabric.
Industry: the pillar that pulls the entire curve
The key to reading is there: 63.6% of FDI goes to industry.
Or 1,613 MD, a level rarely reached in recent years.
Why industry and not other sectors?
Because the Tunisian ecosystem remains perceived as:
- a competitive manufacturing production hub,
- a platform close to Europe,
- a pool of qualified labor,
- a key player in the automotive, mechanical, electronics, textile and agri-food value chains.
It is this base which explains most of the increase of 28.1%.
The other sectors are progressing, but do not have the same investment intensity.
- Energy: 19.5% – important, but slow cycling.
- Services: 14.4% – moderate growth.
- Agriculture: 2.5% – marginal, structurally undercapitalized.
Tunisia therefore remains, above all, an industrial country, a fact that is reminded every year by the FDI curves.
The face of investors: Europe on the front line
The hierarchy of partners has not changed:
- France: 639.9 MD – 31.3% of the total (excluding energy).
- Germany: 294 MD.
- Italy: 242.4 MD.
- Netherlands: 153.7 MD.
- United States: 108.2 MD.
If dispersion exists, the heart remains European.
Which means that the interest in Tunisia is not so much opportunistic as structural: European value chains need Tunisia, and invest accordingly.
2026: the ambition of doubling, or the test of truth
The government sets an audacious objective: to reach 4 billion dinars in FDI in 2026.
For a country under budgetary pressure, it is both a necessity and a gamble.
The announced strategy is based on several levers:
- increase in the automobile integration rate from 40% to 55% at the end of 2026,
- orientation towards aeronautics, pharmaceuticals, digital,
- moving upmarket in the food industry and technical textiles,
- fine targeting by country/sector matrix to seek out the most profitable projects.
The question is no longer just to attract FDI, but to reorient the very structure of investment towards high added value.
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