Tunisia to receive EUR143m loan from AfDB

The Tunisian government has been granted two loans, totalling around EUR143 million (USD172 million) from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB), for the implementation of its National Strategic Plan – Digital Tunisia 2020 and to support the development of technical skills. Commenting on the latter, AfDB Group DG for North Africa Mohamed El Azizi commented that the project would ‘help train a highly skilled workforce, thus meeting Tunisia’s ambition to strengthen its integration into global value chains with more than 5,000 jobs to be created.’ The Digital Tunisia 2020 strategy, meanwhile, looks to narrow the digital divide, establish e-government services and promote socio-economic development through ICT and encompasses infrastructure deployments as well as assistance for startups in the industry.