AfDB loans Tunisia $87.1m to finance project in cereal sector

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and Tunisia inked a deal Wednesday for a $87.1-million credit facility for the financing of a project to support the inclusive and sustainable development of the cereals industry (PADIFIC), local reports say.
Samir Saied, Tunisia’s Minister of Economy and Planning and AfDB’s Deputy Director General for North Africa Malinne Blomberg signed the loan deal.
The North African country will pay back credit over 24 years in addition to 4.5 years of grace period.
The loan will help increase the country’s strategic grain storage capacity from two to three months’ requirements, through the rehabilitation and modernization of the Rades and Bizerte port silos, the creation of a new silo at Djebel Djelloud and the relaunch of grain transport by rail.
Tunisia hopes through the project to ensure uninterrupted supply of soft wheat and barley to the local market. Tunisia is facing a persistent drought that reduced the harvest to 250,000 tons of cereals, against a national annual requirement of 3.4 million tons.
PADIFIC, according to S. Saied, is of “particular importance” in terms of inclusive and sustainable investments, targeting both upstream and downstream parts of the cereal chain.