Tunis – The World Bank announced this Thursday (28) a new credit line to Tunisia worth USD 500 million, according to information published by news outlet Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP). The loan aims to support reforms in the country focusing on promoting private investments and the creation of opportunities to small businesses, plus protect vulnerable households and increase energy security.
Among the intended measures are actions to simplify export and import procedures, open many sectors to private investments, facilitate access to credit and public contracts to small businesses, ensure that social programs benefit the most vulnerable and help build human capital, and create a more green and sustainable energy sector, according to TAP.
The program supported by the World Bank plans, for instance, to eliminate 27 of the 127 existing custom procedures and promote the digitization of the others. The digitization is also planned for the procedures regarding public contracts, making it easier to enter bidding rounds. The goal is to have 20% of these contracts on the hand of small businesses.
Another item of the program will focus on improving the targeting of social actions, ensuring that they are, indeed, aiding those that need them, and to expand access to microcredit, with its ceiling increased from TND 20,000 (USD 7,632.04) to TND 40,000 (USD 15,264.10). The expectation is to increase credit volume from TND 731 million (USD 279 million) to TND 1.175 billion (USD 448.4 million), with TND 600 million (USD 229 million) being directed to women.
In the energy sector, the goal is to reach 2030 with 30% of the energy matrix coming from renewable sources. A crucial measure for this are subsidy cuts for traditional sources that, according to TAP, benefit the wealthy since they consume more energy than the poor. Besides, the subsidy cuts will reduce public spending, freeing resources to social programs, and turning the sector into a more appealing target for private investments.
Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
