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Tunisia Witnesses Slight Improvement in Tourism Indicators

People walk past shops in the Medina, in the Old City of Tunis, Tunisia, July 27, 2021. Picture taken July 27, 2021. (Reuters)
People walk past shops in the Medina, in the Old City of Tunis, Tunisia, July 27, 2021. Picture taken July 27, 2021. (Reuters)
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Tunisia Witnesses Slight Improvement in Tourism Indicators

People walk past shops in the Medina, in the Old City of Tunis, Tunisia, July 27, 2021. Picture taken July 27, 2021. (Reuters)
People walk past shops in the Medina, in the Old City of Tunis, Tunisia, July 27, 2021. Picture taken July 27, 2021. (Reuters)

Tourism sector revenues in Tunisia have slightly improved and were estimated at around 1.9 billion Tunisian dinars (about $678 million) in the first 10 months of 2021, according to the financial and monetary indicators released by the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT).

Tunisia received about 1.94 million tourists, an increase of 7.2 percent, with a six percent rise in revenues, which may provide a stock of foreign exchange the economy desperately needs during this period.

However, these figures are still far from the records achieved in 2019, when Tunisian tourist facilities received about 9.5 million tourists, with five billion dinars ($1.8 billion) in revenues.

This makes tourism one of the key pillars of the Tunisian economy.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA-Tunisia) recorded a slight decline in the flow of foreign investments into Tunisia. It reported a drop by two percent during the first nine months of 2021, estimated at 1.383 billion dinars ($494 million).

Foreign investments have witnessed sharp fluctuations in recent years.

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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
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Washington Urges Israel to Extend Cooperation with Palestinian Banks

A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)
A West Bank Jewish settlement is seen in the background, while a protestor waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's separation barrier in the West Bank village of Bilin in 2012. (AP)

The United States on Thursday called on Israel to extend its cooperation with Palestinian banks for another year, to avoid blocking vital transactions in the occupied West Bank.

"I am glad that Israel has allowed its banks to continue cooperating with Palestinian banks, but I remain convinced that a one-year extension of the waiver to facilitate this cooperation is needed," US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Thursday, on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Rio de Janeiro.

In May, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich threatened to cut off a vital banking channel between Israel and the West Bank in response to three European countries recognizing the State of Palestine.

On June 30, however, Smotrich extended a waiver that allows cooperation between Israel's banking system and Palestinian banks in the occupied West Bank for four months, according to Israeli media, according to AFP.

The Times of Israel newspaper reported that the decision on the waiver was made at a cabinet meeting in a "move that saw Israel legalize several West Bank settlement outposts."

The waiver was due to expire at the end of June, and the extension permitted Israeli banks to process payments for salaries and services to the Palestinian Authority in shekels, averting a blow to a Palestinian economy already devastated by the war in Gaza.

The Israeli threat raised serious concerns in the United States, which said at the time it feared "a humanitarian crisis" if banking ties were cut.

According to Washington, these banking channels are key to nearly $8 billion of imports from Israel to the West Bank, including electricity, water, fuel and food.