Tunisia will issue, during the second week of July, a bond on the U.S. financial market as a result of the guarantee agreement signed between the country and the United States (June 8, 2012), which will be submitted at a plenary session of the National Constituent Assembly (ANC).
The Ministry of Finance highlighted in a memorandum to the ANC “the need to complete the approval procedures before the end of June, in order to complete this issue during the second week of the month of July, especially as the documents of entry into force of the agreement must be submitted to the U.S., 10 days before the date of issue.”
Therefore, the committee responsible for finance, planning and development at the ANC adopted, on Monday, the bill approving the agreement for a loan guarantee from the U.S. government to Tunisia, on the U.S. financial market. This loan guarantee, which is estimated at 30 million U.S. dollars, will allow Tunisia to mobilize 400 to $ 450 million (between 640 and 720 million dinars).
These amounts will be repaid over a period of seven years, with an interest rate between 0.5% and 0.75%, the same rate applied on U.S. Treasury securities.
The guarantee on the principal and interest could reach up to 100%.
Two U.S. banks (Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Natixis) were designated to carry out this issue and the amounts will be devoted to strengthening the state budget.
