A budget support loan agreement of 74 million dollars (nearly 238.5 million dinars) was signed on Friday between the Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) and the Central Bank of Tunisia (BCT), according to the Tunis Afrique Presse Agency (TAP/official).
This so-called “ordinary” loan agreement was signed by the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director of the Arab Monetary Fund, Abderrahmane Ben Abdallah Al Hamidi, and the Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, Marouane El Abbasi, in his capacity as Governor of Tunisia to the FMA.
This agreement will be disbursed in three tranches, the first of which (worth 37 million dollars, approximately 119.7 million dinars) will be released at the beginning of next week.
This loan aims to support the financial restructuring program included in the Tunisian reform program, at the level of the component of the restoration of financial balances and the reduction of the deficit of the balance of payments.
The repayment of this credit will be made over 5 years with a grace period of 2 and a half years. The disbursement of this loan will be made via the Buna platform which will be used for the first time by the Tunisian State.
As a reminder, the Central Bank of Tunisia began at the end of January 2022, the commissioning (go-live) of its membership of the inter-Arab settlement system “Buna”, after having signed the participation agreement dated October 14, 2021.
It is the second Arab central bank to have joined “Buna”, this settlement system affiliated with the Arab Monetary Fund and launched on December 28, 2020, to allow central and commercial banks to make payments in Arab and international currencies, with a view to promoting the integration of payment infrastructures and developing commercial and financial exchanges in the Arab region.
The Buna platform is affiliated with the regional institution for the clearing and settlement of Arab payments, itself owned by the FMA, the same source reads.
