Saudi to lend Tunisia $220 million

The Saudi Fund for Development will extend a total of about $220 million to Tunisia in low-interest loans, Tunisia’s Investment and International Cooperation Ministry said, as the North African country seeks to recover from last year’s revolution. It said there would be three loans, one to develop a power station at Sousse, one to invest in the transport of gas and one to be spent on vocational and other training. The loans are repayable over 20 years at 2 percent interest, and loan agreements will be signed in the coming days, it said in a statement on the official TAP news agency. Tunisia has received several bilateral soft loans this year, aimed at helping it recover from the revolution that overthrew Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. This is the first loan from Saudi Arabia, which has given shelter to Ben Ali and refused to extradite him to stand trial in Tunisia.