President of the Republic Kais Saied announced as he met, on Tuesday, at Carthage Palace, with the World Bank Group Vice President for the Middle East and North Africa Ferid Belhaj that a committee tasked with conducting an audit of all loans and grants received by Tunisia over the past ten years will be set up.
Saied questioned the fate of these loans and donations, estimated at “billions and billions”, stressing the need for coordination between World Bank and Tunisian experts to ensure the return of funds stolen from the Tunisian people, especially after “the cleanup of the judiciary”, said a statement of the Presidency of the Republic.
In the same context, Saied praised the efforts made by the World Bank to support Tunisia during this difficult economic and financial situation, due to bad governance and the misappropriation of funds granted by foreign parties.
He also said that a senior state official assured him that “Tunisia had received a donation of 500 million dollars, but this amount never entered Tunisia”.
He reiterated the need to recover all these funds “stolen from the poor”, saying that most of the decisions taken since July 25, including the cleaning up of the judiciary, are aimed at “saving the state and the Tunisian people within the framework of the Constitution”.
For his part, Ferid Belhaj said that his meeting with the President of the Republic was an opportunity to discuss several topics, including the economic situation in Tunisia, investment, social coverage, subsidy and projects launched by the World Bank, including those aimed at supporting the private sector.
He also announced the willingness of the WB to finance the acquisition of new batches of COVID-19 vaccines, so that the country can overcome the health crisis.
