Tunisia allocates $850 mln to combat effects of coronavirus

Tunisia allocates $850 mln to combat effects of coronavirus
March 22, 2020, 10:07 am

Tunisia’s new Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh speaks during the government handover ceremony in Carthage on the eastern outskirts of the capital Tunis on February 28, 2020. (AFP)

Tunisia is allocating 2.5 billion dinars ($850 million) to combat the economic and social effects of the coronavirus health crisis, Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh said on Saturday.

Among new measures, the government will delay tax debts, postpone taxes on small- and medium-sized businesses, delay repayment of low-income employee loans and provide financial assistance to poor families.

Tunisia has confirmed 60 cases of the disease, which is expected to hit its tourism sector, which accounts for about 10 percent of gross domestic product.

Tunisia’s president on Friday ordered a general lockdown, limiting citizens’ free movement to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

“All of Tunisia is united in this dangerous war. The war has a cost and the exceptional decisions that we announced have a cost, but we have no choice”, Fakhfakh said in a speech.

The government will provide 450 million dinars in financial aid to poor families and Tunisians who have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus crisis.

It allocated 1.2 billion in loans and aid to help companies affected by the crisis.

Tunisia now expects an economic recession, prompting the central bank on Tuesday to cut its key interest rate by 100 basis points. Fakhfakh has said the government reduced its growth forecast this year to 1percent from 2.7 percent. levant

source: Reuters levant

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