Tunis — The Assembly of People's Representatives ( ARP) adopted Tuesday in a plenary session draft law n° 2024/053 which provides for the approval of a financing agreement signed on May 16, 2024, by Tunisian State and a group of local banks to fund the state budget. 85 MPs voted for, 5 against and 18 abstained.
This is a syndicated loan agreement in foreign currency ( €156 million + $16 million), that is TND 570 million, which was signed on May 16, 2024, by the Finance Ministry and sixteen banks.
These banks are La Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie (BIAT), Attijari Bank, La Banque Nationale Agricole (BNA), Amen Bank, the Arab Tunisian Bank (ATB), Bank ABC, BH Bank.
The group of banks also includes La Société Tunisienne de Banque (STB), l'Union Bancaire pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (UBCI), Al Baraka Bank, Tunis International Bank, la Banque Zitouna, Wifak International Bank, la Banque de Tunisie et des Emirats, la North Africa International Bank and La Banque Tuniso-koweïtienne (BTK).
Finance Minister Sihem Nemsia said the funding is part of the diversification of financing sources of the state budget by means of making the most of resources from expatriate remittances in local banks. This will help maintain the stability of foreign currency holdings and ease pressure on the intenal financial market.
The minister emphasised the importance of this funding in maintaining liquidity balance for July 2024.
Tunisia, she said, managed to meet its debt servicing commitments for H1 of 2024, that is TND 11.6 billion.
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Tunisia managed to pay 54% of total debt servicing, that is TND 6.6 billion out of TND 12.3 billion, the minister further said.
"This includes the repayment in February 2024 of a 850 million Eurobond as well as instalments of a $305 million IMF loan, a tranche of a $35 million loan granted by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), a tranche of a Saudi loan ($50 million) and another of a loan made by the Arab Monetary Fund ($35 million).
Tunisia will also seek to live up to its financial commitments for the rest of 2024 according to deadlines set, the minister added.
Namsia said the government has forecast a 2.1% growth rate in 2024 in line with the assumptions of the Finance law, based on several factors such as value added growth in the agricultural sector compared to 2023, the good performance posted by the tourism and transport sectors, the re-opening of the Ras Jedir border crossing which is expected to have a positive impact on tourism and manufacturing industries.
