Tunis — "The measures designed to streamline consumer credit granting taken early October begin to bear fruit even if they are temporary," Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT) Chedli Ayari told the media Wednesday.

He added, following a Cabinet meeting on the 2013 budget held at the Dhiafa Palace in Carthage, that these measures are designed to preserve the country's foreign currency reserves, pending their increase before late November 2012, thanks to a Japanese loan of 900 million dinars.

Ayari noted that the decisions were taken after the decline in the country's foreign currency reserves as a result of growing imports, saying these measures aim to put an end to this bleeding and are limited in time.

These reserves fell from 147 days of import at the end of 2010 to 113 days late 2011 and 94 days by the end of October 2012.

According to the Governor, it is not by any means a new policy adopted by the BCT or a rejection of previous policies.

The BCT had issued last October 4 a circular including measures designed to streamline consumer credit granting.