TUNIS- Tunisia’s foreign currency reserves rose to the equivalent of 103 days of imports, official data showed on Thursday, driven by a strong recovery of the tourism sector.

Central bank data showed the foreign currency reserves stood at at 18.37 billion dinars ($6.43 billion) against 10.80 billion dinars in the same period last year, the equivalent of only 69 days of imports.

Tourism revenues rose from Jan. 1 through to Sep. 30 by 46% to 4 billion dinars with 6.6 million tourists so far compared to the same period last year.

Tunisia expects to receive a record 9 million tourists by the end of 2019 after recovering from the impact of Islamist attacks targeting tourists in 2015.

($1 = 2.8574 Tunisian dinars)

(Reporting By Tarek Amara Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) ((tarek.amara@thomsonreuters.com;))