EIB lends Tunisia $233 mln in emergency support for food security

The European Investment Bank, the lending arm of the European Union, has approved a 220 million euro loan ($233 million) for Tunisia, including 150 million euros in emergency support for food security, the Tunisian Ministry of Economy said on Sunday.

Tunisia is in a deep financial crisis which has resulted in a shortage of many food commodities in recent weeks. Agriculture Minister Mahmoud Elyess Hamza said the loan will help Tunisia to regularly supply soft wheat.

There are widespread shortages of sugar, cooking oil, milk and butter, coffee, tobacco and bottled water, with the situation seeming worse in poorer regions far from the capital, according to a Reuters report.