Tunisia's foreign investment picks up pace as FDI rises sharply, with manufacturing leading the charge

Tunisia attracted TND 838.6 million in foreign investment in the first quarter of 2026, up 18.6 percent on the same period a year earlier, as the country opened its 22nd Tunisia Investment Forum (TIF) in Gammarth on Thursday, pressing toward an annual target it has never previously reached.

The figures, published by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA-Tunisia) and reported by the state news agency TAP, mark the third consecutive year of accelerating inflows. Full-year foreign investment in 2025 reached TND 3,572.1 million, up 30.3 percent on 2024's TND 2,741.8 million.

Manufacturing drives the gains

Within the Q1 2026 total, foreign direct investment — the component that creates physical production sites and jobs — reached TND 824.4 million, against TND 703.7 million a year earlier. Manufacturing led the inflow, capturing TND 564.4 million, or 68.5 percent of all FDI, a rise of 25.6 percent year on year from TND 449.4 million.

Energy followed with TND 182 million, up around 40 percent. Services attracted TND 70.3 million, down from TND 111.8 million in Q1 2025, while agriculture received TND 7.7 million, compared with TND 12.5 million a year earlier.

Converted into hard currency, the Q1 FDI total stood at EUR 244.7 million and USD 263.7 million, according to FIPA. The agency said 14 new foreign companies established operations in Tunisia between January and March, and that the inflows generated around 3,500 additional jobs.

Portfolio investment — market-based holdings without an operational footprint — tripled on the quarter to TND 14.2 million from TND 3.6 million a year earlier.

The TIF and a TND 4 billion target

The TIF, held today and Friday at El Mouradi Gammarth hotel in Tunis and inaugurated by Prime Minister Sarra Zaâfrani Zenzri, is organised by FIPA under the Ministry of Economy and Planning in partnership with the African Development Bank (AfDB). Around 1,000 decision-makers, institutional investors and multinational representatives are attending.

The forum's theme — "Tunisia: Renewed Dynamic, New Opportunities" — signals the ambition behind the gathering. FIPA Director General Jalel Tebib has set a full-year 2026 target of TND 4 billion in foreign investment, a level the country has not previously achieved and one that would require a sustained acceleration through the second half of the year.

The forum is serving as the launch platform for the National Investor Portal, a digital system designed to centralise administrative procedures and reduce the bureaucratic friction that investors and the World Bank have long cited as a brake on Tunisia's competitiveness.

Africa as a second axis

This edition marks a deliberate pivot toward Africa alongside Tunisia's traditional European investor base. A plenary session titled "Tunisia: A Gateway to Africa" is on the programme, and the presence of Wamkele Mene, Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), underscores the intent. France, Italy and Germany remain the leading source countries for FDI; FIPA said it is working to diversify toward Asia and the Americas.

The TIF is followed in July by an international aerospace and space industry business forum in Tunis, where Tunisia's established cable-harness and embedded-equipment supply chain — built around European manufacturers — is a draw for prospective investors.

A separate international aerospace and space industry business forum is scheduled in Tunis from 7 to 9 July 2026.