June 29. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The World Bank has approved the delivery of a loan of 130 million dollars (about 124 million euros) to Tunisia to “reduce the impact of the war in Ukraine” by financing the import of wheat and supporting the importation of barley.
The agency has indicated in a statement that the project is part of an emergency package with donors such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD), the European Investment Bank and the European Union (EU).
Thus, he explained that the project “will support the short-term import of wheat for bread and will guarantee continued access to affordable bread for the poor, barley for livestock and agricultural income for national grain production.”
The World Bank has also stressed that this project “will lay the foundations for a series of reforms” that address the “weaknesses and distortions” in the grain value chain, including those related to food security policies.
“Tunisia is facing a major ‘shock’ in grain supply due to difficulties in accessing financial markets and rising global prices, which has affected its ability to obtain imported grain,” explained the director of the World Bank for Tunisia, Alexandre Arrobbio.
“We are working closely with other partners to support the Government of Tunisia in its efforts to ensure food security while addressing some long-overdue structural reforms in the agricultural and food system,” he stressed.
In this sense, the agency has detailed that the project seeks to avoid alterations in the supply of bread during the third quarter of 2022 and help obtain 75,000 metric tons of barley for small producers for a month and 40,000 tons of wheat seeds for the next harvest season, which starts in October.
The announcement has come about a week after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed its support for the controversial program of economic reforms presented by the president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, who has been facing growing social pressure since in July 2021 announced that all powers were arrogated after dissolving the Government and suspending Parliament.
The IMF’s director for the Middle East and Central Asia, Jihad Azur, indicated that the reform program “has the benefits of greater ownership and greater credibility, which means a better chance of success than in the past”, before showing his readiness to “start negotiations” in the coming weeks.
Saied is facing growing criticism for the economic crisis and the exceptional measures adopted since May 2021, when he dissolved the Government and suspended Parliament –later dissolved– to assume all powers, a measure denounced by numerous parties, including the Islamist Ennahda.
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