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Tunisia economic growth slows to 0.8% in 2015

By AFP
Tunisia Unemployed Tunisians after taking part in a march from the city of Gafsa to Tunis to demand work, on February 9, 2016.  By Fethi Belaid AFPFile
FEB 17, 2016 LISTEN
Unemployed Tunisians after taking part in a march from the city of Gafsa to Tunis to demand work, on February 9, 2016. By Fethi Belaid (AFP/File)

Tunis (AFP) - Tunisia's economic growth slowed to 0.8 percent in 2015 from 2.3 percent the previous year, figures showed on Wednesday, a day before a visit by an International Monetary Fund delegation.

"The Tunisian economy grew by 0.8 percent in 2015, mainly due to the notable increase of contributions from the agriculture and fisheries sectors," a National Statistics Institute statement said.

But production dropped in the industry and service sectors in the last quarter, it said.

While Tunisia is hailed as a success story of the Arab Spring uprisings, authorities have failed to redress the economy since the 2011 revolution.

An IMF delegation is to visit Tunisia on Thursday, after the government said in September it would ask the fund for a new aid package at least equal to a $1.7 billion credit line granted in 2013.

Olive oil and date exports gave Tunisia's economy a boost last year, the finance minister said in October, after its vital tourism sector was badly affected by two deadly jihadist attacks.

The country lost more than a third of its tourism revenues in 2015, the central bank said last month, after the attacks that killed 59 foreign tourists.

The Islamic State jihadist group claimed both attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis in March and a coastal resort near Sousse in June -- as well as a deadly bus bombing in the capital in November.

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