European Investment Bank has 80 million ECU for Tunisian businessmen
The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's finance institution, announced loans totaling ECU 80 million to the Republic of Tunisia to develop the private sector and enhance Tunisia's water resource infrastructure.
ECU 50 million will be allocated to provide medium and long-term financing for enterprises in the manufacturing and service sectors which are in the process of restructuring and upgrading and are investing to expand and modernize their business.
Access to this credit line is open to the entire Tunisian financial sector, and acceptable intermediaries will be responsible for identifying beneficiaries and will proceed to investing enterprises in local currency. It will initially be made available to the following financial intermediaries: Amen Bank, Banque de Development Economique de la Tunisie, Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie Union des Banques pour la Commerce et L'industrie.
Deployment by other banks in 1999 is anticipated. With this loan, the EIB lends support to the Tunisian authorities' policy of fostering development of a more open economy. This operation is designed to assist Tunisian enterprises in preparing for liberalization of the economy with a view to the gradual establishment of a free trade area with the European Union. It complements the ECU 15 million operation signed in October 1997 in support of privatization of public enterprises and those mounted by the EIB in October 1995 and December 1997 for ECU 8 million and ECU 15 million from risk capital resources.
This brings the amount committed by the EIB in support of the overall upgrading program for Tunisian enterprise to ECU 88 million. ECU 30 million will help fund an investment program to build small earth hill dams in rural areas throughout Tunisia to supply water for irrigation and households. The project financed will form part of the national plan to optimize use of water resources in Tunisia through the installation of small-scale water distribution facilities across a large part of the country with a view to meeting the needs of rural communities and bringing local, social and economic benefits.