Industrial projects rank first in terms of funding granted by the Bank for Financing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (French: BFPME) since its creation, monopolszing 68% of this financing, says Director of Supervision, Diagnosis and Development at the bank Hamdi Ksiaa.
Investments funded by BFPME in the industrial sector from its establishment to the end of March 2022 reached 964 million dinars, contributing to the creation of 1,129 projects and generating over 23,000 jobs, Ksiaa told TAP.
The agri-food sector ranks second with 21% of funds and 300 million dinars, ahead of the agricultural sector with 6% and an amount of 61 million dinars.
From its establishment to March 2022, the BFPME has funded a total of 1,656 projects for an amount of 1,266 million dinars, hence creating almost 30,000 jobs, the same source said.
Concerning the geographical distribution of these funds, the south-east district was the least served with 7.5% of approved projects, for 74 million dinars, unlike the district of Greater Tunis (Ariana, Ben Arous, Manouba and Tunis), which had the lion’s share, i.e. over 24% of the projects funded by the bank.
It is followed by the North-East district (Zaghouan, Nabeul and Bizerte), where projects received 211 million dinars, that is to say 14% of investments.
Ksiaa spoke of difficulties hindering the implementation of projects funded by the BFPME, indicating that deadlines are often not met due to administrative procedures, namely obtaining authorizations as well as the poor management experience of young entrepreneurs.
On the other hand, the bank reported a limited technical, administrative and commercial experience among these entrepreneurs; many of them find it impossible to complete their funding plan due to the reluctance of banks to finance new projects after increased risk.
To overcome these challenges, the BFPME director called for increasing coordination between regional structures in charge of granting authorisations. He also called for establishing a single structure in charge of promoting private investment and creating SMEs.
