Year: 2018

The Ministry of Industry has launched a call for tender to build and manage a solar plant and wind farm in Tunisia. According to the Ministry, 16 companies and consortiums were pre-selected to contend for the bid to provide and manage a 500-megawatt solar plant, and 12 companies were pre-selected to compete in the bid for building and managing a 300-megawatt wind farm. The Italian energy giant Enel is vying for the solar plant project along with other companies including international energy giants such as Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power, the…

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank (WB) Group, provides Tunisia with all the necessary financial and human resources to help it ranks 50th globally and third in the Arab World and Africa in the 2020 Doing Business report, said its Resident Representative in Tunisia, Georges Joseph Ghorra. The institution will form work teams to determine the indicators related to this report that Tunisia could easily develop and improve, he added at a conference in Tunis for the presentation of the work strategy agreed to improve…

The EBRD is strengthening access to local currency loans for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) by signing a credit line with Enda Tamweel, the largest microfinance institution in Tunisia, the Financial reports. The Bank’s MSME credit line of €5 million (TND17 million) will increase the availability of financing for Tunisian small businesses. In a country with a population of 11 million people, the SME sector plays an integral role in the Tunisian economy. However, only 15 per cent of MSMEs in the country have bank loans, while 58 per…

Tunisia’s inflation rate remained at 7.4 % in November, the third consecutive month at that figure, official data showed on Wednesday, according to Reuters. Inflation has fallen from 7.5 % in August and 7.8 % in June, Reuters added. In May, Tunisia’s central bank raised its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 6.75 %, the second hike in three months, to tackle inflation. TunisianMonitorOnline    

The tourism sector indicators improved clearly in terms of revenues to reach nearly 3.7 billion dinars by late November 2018, up 40,5% compared to the same period of 2017, said Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts Rene Trabelsi. At a plenary session in the House of People’s Representatives on Wednesday on the draft budget of the Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts for 2019, Trabelsi said that the number of tourists has posted a 17.2% rise to the end of November 2018, compared to last year, reaching 7.5 million tourists. This leap…

A joint Tunisian-South African business council will be created soon, announced Abdessalem Loued, member of The Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA) national bureau, and Bulelani Magwanishe, South African vice-minister of Trade and Industry, at a meeting held on Tuesday in Tunis, “Both sides agreed on the creation of this Joint Business Council and a Tunisian business mission to South Africa during the year 2019” is scheduled, according to a statement issued Wednesday by UTICA. The two leaders also discussed at this meeting, the areas of activity available…

Two projects funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were inaugurated Tuesday in Sidi Bouzid, according to TAP news agency. They concern an urban park project in Ouled Chebli in the delegation of Sidi Bouzid and the project of the redevelopment of the youth centre in the delegation of Souk Jedidi. These projects are part of the Programme “Sharekna”, a project to Support Youth and Empower Local Communities”, conducted by Family Health International “FHI 360” in Tunis, Sidi Bouzid, El Kef, Manouba and Ariana, TAP reports. The…