Tunisia Ebrd Contributes Tender

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed a sovereign guaranteed loan for 150.5 million to Office des Cereales ODC a Tunisian state-owned company to fund imports of soft wheat durum wheat and barley representing up to 15 per cent of Tunisias annual consumption needs. The war on Ukraine has severely impacted the countrys ability to export grains and has led to disruptions in the global grain supply and hikes in global soft commodity prices which directly impact the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries some of which are the worlds largest importers of wheat Tunisia secures two-thirds of its grains annually through imports.The Bank mobilised 2 million in technical assistance grants to support the preparation and implementation of a Sector and Corporate Roadmap reform in accordance with the Tunisian state-owned enterprise SOE reform agenda.The objectives of the roadmap are to implement an action plan prepared by experts and involving relevant stakeholders to address current structural weaknesses of the grain sector which will lead to a progressive liberalisation of grain imports and to guide ODCs reform towards its commercialisation with improvements to operational efficiency and corporate governance standards.ODC is a state-owned company under the supervision of Tunisias Ministry of Agriculture. It is in charge of international and national procurement storage sales and distribution of wheat in Tunisia.Since the start of its operations in Tunisia in 2012 the EBRD has invested more than 1.5 billion across 59 projects in the country in both the private and public sectors.