São Paulo – Tunisia is negotiating a US$ 1.78 billion Precautionary Stand-By Arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). According to the Fund, this type of deal is used when a country does not intend to use the loan, but may if need be. According to a press release issued this Monday (4) by the IMF, negotiations are at an “advanced stage.”
Prompted by the Tunisian government, the IMF sent a mission to the country from January 15 to February 1. According to the head of the mission, Amine Mati, the Fund’s technicians consider that the macroeconomic and structural reforms in the government’s program are “appropriately focused on promoting inclusive growth,” while preserving economic stability in the midst of a yet-uncertain international, regional, and domestic scenario.
Tunisia first triggered the Arab Spring as a popular uprising caused then-president Zine Abdine Ben Ali to step down in January 2011, after over two decades in power. Political and social instability, combined with the Eurozone crisis, caused tourism and investment in the country to decline.
The IMF informed that Tunisia’s financing needs for this year will be met by government revenues and other sources of funds, and that the agreement being negotiated is meant solely as a “precautionary measure” in case further external shocks take place.
The delegation met with government officials, the Central Bank, congressmen, banks, companies, political parties, unions and the civil society.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
