TUNIS - (Xinhua) - The African Development Bank expected on Wednesday that Tunisia's gross domestic product (GDP) will grow 2.5 percent this year and 3.2 percent next year, due to the boom in the country's tourism and industry sectors.

According to a report by the African Development Bank issued today under the title “Economic Outlook in North Africa for the year 2022: the return of growth in the context of rising energy and food prices,” and the official Tunisian News Agency quoted excerpts from it this evening, “The recovery of economic activity in Tunisia is not strong enough to restore Jobs lost since the beginning of the Corona pandemic.

However, he added, "The recovery recorded in Tunisia in 2021 was stimulated by the manufacturing industry and services," noting that "the shock associated with the global epidemic in 2020 caused a significant recession in Tunisia with a decline in GDP by 8.7%."

He pointed out that the year 2021 was characterized by a significant recovery in Tunisia, with a GDP growth of 3.4%, as this recovery led to an increase in exports, in addition to an improvement in the performance of the industry and services sectors.

He attributed this recovery to an increase in private sector investment by 24.5%, after a contraction of 26.8% in 2020.

It is noteworthy that the National Institute of Statistics (a government institution), had indicated in statistical data published yesterday (Tuesday) that the Tunisian economy achieved a growth of 2.9% in the third quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2021.

The Tunisian Institute of Statistics attributed this growth to the high rate of value-added growth in the services sector, which amounted to 4.3% on an annual basis, and to a lesser extent, to a lesser extent, the decline in the construction sector.

In this regard, he stressed that in light of the difficult global economic situation and the unprecedented inflationary pressures, economic activity continues to remedy the recession that followed the health crisis of 2020.