Mr. Ahmed Rjiba, Director General of the “Banque de l’Habitat” (BH) and Mr. Mohamed El Azizi, Director General of the African Development Bank (AfDB), signed, on Monday, February 27, 2017, an agreement on a credit line of € 60 million for Tunisian SMEs operating in the trade sector, ilboursa reported.
This facility, granted without the guarantee of the State and spread over 4 years at a rate of 3%, is a first of its kind in Tunisia and North Africa, according to El Azizi. It is part of the AfDB’s trade finance program launched in 2013, he added.
The key sectors targeted by this line of credit are manufacturing, construction, health, education, services and agriculture.
“It will in particular contribute to the increase of exports of agricultural products, manufacturing products and services,” he said.
This line of credit is highly strategic for AfDB, emphasizes the DG North Africa. It will serve four AfDB priorities: feed Africa, industrialize Africa, integrate Africa and improve the quality of life of Africans.
For his part, Mr Rjiba said that by benefiting from a stable, flexible and competitively priced currency source, BH will have the necessary liquidity to meet the needs of its customers, including acquisition of energy products, fertilizers or other products and equipment.
These resources will help support SMEs’ efforts to increase exports and to capture new markets in a morose economic environment for the banking sector as a whole, characterized by the drying up of liquidity and the tightening of credit, he added.
