The smell of confusion and scandal surrounding the $300 million Algerian “loan” to Tunisia – Barlamane


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Tunisia announced in mid-December that it had “obtained” a $300 million loan from Algeria, on the eve of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s visit to Tunis. At the moment, the Tunisian Central Bank has received nothing.

According to the latest edition of the Official Journal of the Tunisian Republic, President Kais Saied ratified by decree a financial protocol, which expired on 9 December, relating to grants by Algeria to Tunisia. “a debt” Amount of $300 million, or €266.2 million. The announcement came on the eve of Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s two-day visit to Tunisia. A controversial move that has generated a lot of comments.

According to Tunisian observers, the central bank has yet to receive the promise of Algerian money, while Tunisia is facing a severe economic crisis, with persistent volatility, slowing the enthusiasm of investors and donors. The Algerian deposit, believed to support the Tunisian dinar, is meant to ease pressure as Tunisia has been facing a foreign exchange crunch for several years, currently non-existent.

The country experienced a serious political crisis this summer when President Kais Saied took full power with a brutal dismissal of the government and an indefinite suspension of parliament dominated by the Islamist-inspired Ennahda party. Kaïs Saed immediately announced an extension of this suspension until new elections were held in December 2022.

The Tunisian economic crisis, characterized by high inflation at half-mast (0.6% per year on average) for 10 years and high inflation of 6% per year, was exacerbated by the pandemic that crippled the country with a lack of tourism receipts. The state would also have to cope with its growing debt burden from banks and foreign institutions, and would have to finance an expensive system of subsidies for basic products. The Tunisian debt has been climbing and the currency, the dinar, has been losing value for several years.

To bounce back, especially with aid received from the European Union, Tunis, despite criticism, is turning to the IMF for the fourth time in 10 years, asking it to receive a loan of nearly $4 billion (3.3 billion euros). are supposed to. ,

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