Support to Small and Medium Enterprises for Economic Recovery Project

The development objective of the Support to Small and Medium Enterprises for Economic Recovery Project for Tunisia is to improve access to long-term finance to viable small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The project comprises of three components. The first component is line of credit (LoC) to reschedule existing loans of viable SMEs over longer-term maturities to alleviate their debt burden. The second component, line of credit to extend new long-term loans to viable SMEs. This component will mobilize additional private capital from participating financial institution (PFIs). As a general rule, it is required that PFIs draw up to 80 percent from the LoC and add 20 percent from their balance sheet to extend new loans to SMEs. Additional incentives are provided to improve access to finance to SMEs in lagging regions and in the green economy and to SMEs with a female top manager. The third component, project implementation support and monitoring and evaluation will finance the project coordination unit (PCU) that is established within the Directorate of External Payments (DEP) of the Central Bank of Tunisia (CBT).