20 July 2023; MEMO: Tunisia has borrowed $87.1 million from the African Development Bank (AfDB) to support the country's grain production, Anadolu has reported. The loan agreement was signed by Economy and Planning Minister Samir Saied and AfDB Deputy Director General for North Africa Region, Malinne Blomberg.
Minister Saied said that the multimillion-dollar loan will be used to support the sustainable development of the grain sector and increase the country's strategic grain storage capacity from two to three months' requirements. This will be done through the rehabilitation and modernisation of the Rades and Bizerte port silos, the creation of a new silo at Djebel Djeloud and the relaunch of grain transport by rail, he explained.
Tunisia will repay the loan over a period of 24 years. The debt has a grace period of four-and-a-half years.
According to official figures, Tunisia imports about 70 per cent of its grain needs. However, the country is witnessing an economic crisis, exacerbated by the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. It also suffers from water scarcity and a decline in the water levels in reservoirs due to the effects of climate change and three successive years of drought that affected the harvest.
