SFD grants Tunisia loans worth 331 MTD

Three agreements were signed, on Tuesday in Tunis, whereby the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) granted Tunisia loans at favorable conditions of a total of 331 million Tunisian dinars (MTD) (= US$ 229 million). These loans are meant to finance energy and vocational training projects. The three conventions were signed by Investment and International Co-operation Minister Riadh Bettaieb and SFD Managing-Director Youssef Ben Ibrahim Al Bassam, with attendance of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali . These loans will be reimbursed over a 20-year period, with a five-year period of grace and a 2% interest rate. According to the first agreement, SFD is to contribute to the funding of power plant project in Sousse, whose cost is estimated at 180 MTD. This power plant will meet the growing needs in electricity due to economic and demographic growth. The second agreement provides for the granting of a loan worth 127.5 MTD to co-finance a project of natural gas distribution in eastern Tunisian regions with natural gas, as well as industrial areas and municipalities, around 100 districts. The third loan of 24 MTD will help develop the system of vocational training in inland regions, namely Gafsa, Sidi Bouzid, and Tataouine. The aim of this loan is to adapt this system to the regional needs of the labor market and develop rural women’s training centres. SFD has funded, over the last three decades, 20 projects in Tunisia for a total of 466 MTD, meant to the building of networks and infrastructure in the fields of drinking water, irrigation, sanitation, dams, rural development, etc.