Brussels, 03/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - In July of this year, the European Union will pay the first tranche of the budgetary support programme pledged to Tunisia, announced Michael Kohler, the Director for neighbourhood policy at the European Commission, on a visit to Tunisia late last week. The EU has proposed to grant a loan of €300 million under macroeconomic support. The level of the first tranche was not specified.
In addition, the director general of the EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) for the south and east of the Mediterranean region, Ms Hildegard Gacek, who was in Tunisia in late February, confirmed that her institution would be supporting Tunisia. The EBRD has received a mandate from the EU to promote investment in the Mediterranean.
Gacek met the members of the new government and said that the adoption of the new Constitution marks a key stage, which demonstrates the country's commitment in its transition to democracy, according to a press release. She said that Tunisia has great potential and added that the EBRD was delighted to be contributing to its economic growth through its investments in the private sector. Since September 2012, when its operations in the country began, the EBRD has invested €133 million in nine projects.
Morocco/EBRD. Additionally, in late February the EBRD announced that it was to grant a line of credit of 40 million dollars to fund the Moroccan trade sector via a “trade facilitation programme”. The bank will provide the banks with guarantees in support of international trade operations and short-term loans to local exporters. The EBRD indicates that its aim is to stimulate regional trade and to contribute to developing trade links between Morocco and the other countries in which the bank invests. (FB)