The African Development Bank (AfDB) said on Tuesday it approved a financing package of 92.3 million euros to support business competitiveness and empower the Tunisian population through job creation, according to the German news agency, dpa.
The financing consists of a 90-million-euro loan from the Bank Group, and a grant of 2.3 million Euro under the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in African (AFAWA) initiative.
It aims to provide young people and women looking for work with the skills they need to access salaried jobs, to improve living conditions and promote economic inclusion through entrepreneurship and skills development.
The Tunisian government forecasts that the program could enable the creation of more than 118,000 formal jobs.
Tunisia struggles with economic difficulties that have led to a decline in public sector employment, due to a fiscal crisis, in addition to widespread unemployment among young people and university graduates.
The unemployment rate in Tunisia stands at 16.1% according to the latest data. The unemployment rate for youth in the 15-24 age bracket rose to 39.2% while the unemployment rate among people with a higher education degree reached 23.4%.
Last June, the European Union, the EIB, AFD Group and KfW announced a major joint investment of 270.9 million euros to support Tunisia's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Also, two credit lines worth 170 million euros and 80 million euros, and 10.5 million euros for the Dhamen Express guarantee facility, were deployed to increase access to finance for MSMEs in Tunisia.
At least 30% of the funds from the EIB and 35% of those from AFD went to projects promoting social inclusion, targeting women, youth employment and less-favored areas, as well as the green economy and climate resilience.
This initiative underscored the commitment of the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB), Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) to support projects that have a high social impact and promote the economic recovery of Tunisia’s micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), taking a Team Europe approach.
