The flow of foreign investment climbed 16 percent in the first five months of 2018 compared to the same period last year. It led to a cash flow of 922 million dinars ($355 million), according to the latest report published by the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA). Direct Foreign Investment was estimated at 895 million dinars ($344 million), up 15.3 percent, and 27 million dinars ($10 million) in portfolio investments, which witnessed a 43.8 percent rise. The sector breakdown of these investments showed a 66.2 percent increase in investments in the services sector, reaching 130 million dinars ($50 million), and 15.1 percent rise in industrial investments of 322 milion dinars ($124 million), according to FIPA. Energy sector investments witnessed a 5.1 percent rise while there was a 5.83 percent increase in investments in the agriculture sector. According to the latest figures, the volume of foreign investments in Tunisia during the first four months of this year stood at 27 percent, before their recent drop. With regards to the future of foreign investments in Tunisia, Tunisian Economic and Financial Expert Saad Boumakhla said that the country relies on a number of international finance structures to fulfill its investment promises of 34 billion dinars (about $14 billion) made during the International Investment Forum (Tunis 2020), which was held at the end of November. Boumakhla said that the investment climate in Tunisia has developed in recent years with the adoption of a new investment law that eases bureaucracy. The Tunisian expert called on local businessmen to reach rural areas in the country and create jobs there, saying their success would encourage Tunisian businessmen abroad to invest in Tunisia.