African development bank grants Tunisia 2 loans

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Tunisian government have signed two loan agreements totaling 340 million dinars. Both loans will finances projects/programs in conformity with Tunisia’s new focus on inclusive growth, the bank said on its website. According to Tunisian News Agency (TAP), the first loan, worth 137.34 million euros (about 267.23 MD), relates to the financing of the building of the Medenine-Ras Jedir section on the motorway leading from Gabes to the border post with Libya. This will allow the creation of some 2000 direct jobs over the 3-year building period and about 30 000 jobs on the medium term in the tourism sector. The second loan will finance a credit line of 50 million US dollars (about 70.5 MD) for the benefit of SMEs all over the country to contribute to keeping jobs and creating up to 6000 new jobs in the next 5 years.