Tunisia is on track to secure the TD4.2bn (US$3.1bn) of additional external financing it says it needs in 2011 to help fund its 17-point emergency action plan to restore socioeconomic stability and to meet a sharp rise in the budget and balance-of-payments deficits following the popular uprising in January. The planning and international co-operation minister, Abdelhamid Triki, said that TD2.85bn of loans had been promised by the start of June. The African Development Bank (AfDB) had provided US$1bn, of which half is for immediate disbursement, while the World Bank has provided US$500m. The Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD) has provided some TD75m (US$53m) for micro-credits, TD150m for regional development projects and TD15m for firms damaged by the unrest. The Islamic Development Bank has provided TD50m to the Banque tunisienne de solidarité, which specialises in micro-credits. France has promised loans worth EUR350m (US$480m), of which EUR185m was for rapid disbursement to support emergency measures. Italy has provided loans worth EUR135m and Algeria US$100m, and the EU has provided a grant of EUR90m. Mr Triki said that loans worth a further TD1.5bn were under discussion with Tunisia's aid partners including the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has already announced EUR600m of new funding for Tunisia. The World Bank has said that it would provide a further US$1bn in 2012. The loans are being provided at low interest rates and are repayable over a period of 17-20 years.

The promises of financial support come at a crucial time. Although the finance minister, Jelloul Ayed, has insisted that Tunisia is able to honour its external debt obligations this year and that rescheduling was "out of the question", paying public-sector salaries might have proved harder. Jamel Belhaj, a senior finance ministry official, said on May 12th that the government had some TD549m to cover public-sector salaries until July, but the government might not be able to do so after that date if the economy deteriorated further.