The European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency Group (AFD) and Germany’s Development Bank (KfW) announce a major joint investment of €270.9 million to support the Tunisian business fabric.

This initiative underlines the commitment of the European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency Group (AFD) and the German Development Bank (KfW) to supporting projects that have a significant social impact and that favour the economic recovery of Tunisia’s MSMEs in a Team Europe approach.

This Team Europe package comprises:

• A “Tunisia Economic Recovery” line of credit from the EIB in the amount of €170 million, signed in March 2024;
• A line of credit from the AFD in the amount of €80 million, to be signed shortly;
• Support from the KfW for the “Dhamen Express” guarantee mechanism by means of an initial contribution of €10.5 million;
• Support in the form of technical assistance for a total amount of €10.4 million financed respectively by the EU (€8 million), the EIB (€1.5 million) and the AFD (€0.9 million
• Implementation of technical cooperation with the EU’s and AFD’s funding by Expertise France, notably the creation of a technical and financial support mechanism for MSMEs to improve their access to finance.

This combined support will contribute to underpinning the resilience of the fabric of Tunisian MSMEs. It will accompany the implementation of the lines of credit made available at the level of intermediaries and MSMEs with the aim of responding to Tunisia’s current economic challenges as regards limited access to long-term funding faced by MSMEs. The financing will be made available to MSMEs through financial intermediaries, which will be invited to take part by the Central Bank of Tunisia.