Last October 10, Bilel Sahnoun, CEO of Tunis Stock exchange, announced that Three to five companies should be added to the list by 2019.  

"Between three and five other companies will be listed in textile and real estate next year, which will raise the number of listed companies to about 85-86", the CEO said in an interview with Reuters. M. Sahnoun, noting that the absence of large companies remains the Achilles heel of Tunis stock exchange, estimated that the privatization of public companies should double the number of listed companies in about 5 years.

“The Tunis stock market is not on the radar of some big investors because it does not include large companies able to attract those who can create investment and help to promote economic growth and wealth creation", he said.

 Adding that "listing shares in major state companies such as Tunisie Telecom or the tobacco company (Régie Nationale des Tabacs et des Allumettes), or AGIL (the fuel distributor Société Nationale de Distribution des Pétroles) would be very beneficial to the health of these companies, the economic recovery and the image of the stock market".

Recently, the government revealed a programme for privatization of large public companies, indicating that part of this process will be realized via IPOs. But, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail (UGTT), the powerful Tunisian labor congress, strongly opposed this project and even announced a general strike in the public sector on October.  

In 2011, Tunisie Telecom withdrew its project of double listing on Tunis and Paris stock exchanges following the strike action called by unions affiliated to UGTT. M. Sahnoun further indicated that Tunindex, the composite index of Tunis stock exchange, registered a rise of 20% in the first nine months of 2018, a performance which places this stock among the best-performing markets in North Africa this year.

But, despite this performance, it remains one of the smallest financial markets in that region with just $10 billion in capitalization.