The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Compagnie Internationale de Leasing (CIL) inked a €5 million financing agreement on Tuesday in Tunis to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
This is the third line of financing after a first line in 2014 amounting to €15 million and a second line in 2016 of 25 million dinars.
The loan is repayable over five years and should help CIL to finance the acquisition of vehicles and equipment for local small businesses, said EBRD official in Tunisia Antoine Sallé de Chou.
“The EBRD is ready to support this major player in the sector in supporting Tunisian SMEs, especially since this loan comes at a very important time for the leasing sector, which has suffered greatly over the past 18 months from the drying up of liquidity,” he pointed out.
The official added that the Bank will continue its discussions with CIL in 2020 to launch a new product in Tunisia dedicated to financing green value chains to help CIL deal with this new segment of leasing on equipment that has an environmental impact.
“There will, therefore, be a package of subsidies to encourage CIL and SMEs to use this new financing and to discover the environmental, but also commercial and financial benefits of using greener equipment,” he said.
TunisianMonitorOnline
