Saudi Arabia will grant $500 million in a “concessional loan and donation” to Tunisia, which is facing a financial crisis and an impasse with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), state media of the wealthy Gulf oil monarchy announced on Thursday.
Indebted to about 80% of its GDP, the Maghreb country has been negotiating for nearly two years a new loan of nearly 2 billion dollars from the IMF, but the discussions are stalling, Tunisian President Kais Saied rejecting reforms recommended by the organization based in Washington.
Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan and his Tunisian counterpart Sihem Boughdiri “signed today in Tunis a concessional loan agreement amounting to US$400 million” , the official Saudi press agency SPA reported.
The two officials also signed “a memorandum of understanding providing for the granting of a donation of 100 million dollars” , she added.
The Saudi minister underlined the “pivotal role (of his country) in supporting Arab and Muslim countries in terms of development and the economy” , SPA said, adding that Ryad had already granted a loan of 500 million dollars to the Central Bank of Tunisia in 2019.
He promised that his country would “continue” to support Tunisia , announcing “further meetings in the coming weeks to provide additional support from the Saudi Development Fund and other Gulf countries’ development funds” , according to a video released by the Tunisian presidency after the Saudi minister met with President Saied.
In recent years, several Gulf countries have become increasingly important as international creditors, such as China and India .
Mr. Jadaan said last January in Davos (Switzerland) that Ryad had “changed the way it helps” other countries, and was now looking first and foremost for its own “interest” , after having long signed blank checks to fragile economies.
Earlier this month, the Pakistani state bank’s coffers were bolstered by deposits of $2 billion from Saudi Arabia and $1 billion from the United Arab Emirates , just before the IMF approved aid to Islamabad worth $3 billion.
As it was barely recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic , Tunisia suffered a new shock with the war in Ukraine, which caused the prices of cereals and oil, which it imports massively, to soar.
