Saudi Arabia to give Tunisia $500m as soft loan and grant

Saudi Arabia has agreed to provide Tunisia with a $500 million package of financial assistance as the country faces a mounting financial crisis.

The Gulf state will give the North African country $400 million as a soft loan and $100 million as a grant, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Thursday.

The agreement was signed in Tunis by Saudi minister of finance Mohammed Al Jadaan and his Tunisian equivalent Sihem Boughdiri.

The Saudi ambassador in Tunis Abdul Aziz Bin Al-Saqr said “the agreement is meant to support the Tunisian economy”, adding that the kingdom’s financial support to Tunisia “exceeds $2.2 billion dollars and covers several areas including energy, health and agriculture”.

The ambassador also highlighted Saudi’s $500 million loan to Tunisia in 2019, saying that support to Tunisia will continue with the aim of consolidating bilateral relations.

Tunisia has more than $2 billion of foreign exchange debt repayments due in the fourth quarter of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024, and concerns are mounting that it may not be able to make the repayments.

Source: Arabian Gulf Business Insight