Tunisia will receive up to €2.5 billion ($2.66 billion) of support from the European Investment Bank (EIB) by 2020, the bank's president, Werner Hoyer, has announced.

The objective of the aid is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth, the main source of jobs for young people, the bank said. The announcement was made at the international “Tunisia 2020” conference in Luxembourg.

“This is an exceptional measure,” stated Hoyer. “In view of the challenges currently facing Tunisia, it is our responsibility to act rapidly and decisively to restore the confidence of public and private investors. This is why we have decided to step up substantially our activity in Tunisia from now until 2020, with an overall investment of €2.5 billion to support the public and private sector in key sectors of the Tunisian economy such as private entrepreneurship, sustainable infrastructure, social housing, energy, education and training of young people and also foreign direct investment and innovation. In this way, we are providing fresh stimulus to investment and job creation and opening up new opportunities for Tunisia's youth.”

The EIB president pointed out that Tunisia will also be supported via the EIB's new resilience initiative for the European Union's (EU) Southern Neighbourhood and the European External Investment Plan (EEIP) which is intended to encourage investment in Africa and in the EU neighbourhood countries.

On the strength of its expertise and the partnership based on trust that has linked the EIB and Tunisia for many years, the EU bank has channelled, since the 2011 revolution, €1.4 billion of loans into public and private-sector projects, which have mobilised €3.4 billion of new financing.

New loans totalling €369.5 million for the key sectors of innovation, support for businesses and climate action
During his official visit to Tunisia, Hoyer also signed several finance contracts for a total of €389.1 million, reflecting the EIB's strong commitment to assisting Tunisia with its economic and social development programme. - TradeArabia News Service