The Tunisian parliamentary finance committee has okayed five sealed deals with donors that allow it to receive loans amounting to nearly EUR400 million to implement a number of government projects.
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) approved a EUR98.2 million loan to help finance an e-governance program and support digital transformation in administrative services. IBRD also approved a loan of EUR66.9 million to support emerging companies and SMEs.
The parliament approved the government’s request for loans, totaling EUR238 million, from the from the African Development Bank (AfDB). One loan, worth EUR108 million, will go to the Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas (STEG) to fund the electric power transmission project this year.
A second, worth EUR100 million, will be dedicated to SMEs and active institutions in various sectors, and a third will finance the electric power transmission project in 2021.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the economy needs around TND11 billion (around USD3.8 billion) in foreign and domestic loans to fund the 2020 budget. The country’s economic woes have been compounded by the coronavirus and ensuing lockdowns.
Tunisia’s economy is expected to contract by 4.3 percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus crisis, the deepest contraction since its independence in 1956, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said earlier this month.
