AfDB grants Tunisia two loans worth 340 MD

The African Development Bank (AfDB) granted Tunisia two loans worth 340 million dinars (MD) to finance the building of Médenine-Ras Jédir motorway and support SMEs. The two loan agreements were signed Monday by Minister of Planning and International Co-operation Abdelhamid Triki and Director of the Infrastructure Department at the AfDB Gilbert Mbesherubusa. The first loan, worth 137.34 million euros (about 267.23 MD), relates to the financing of the building of the Médenine-Ras Jédir section on the motorway leading from Gabès 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.