Day: February 23, 2024

Tunisia, which has for several years been facing the effects (drought, floods and fires), is now at a crossroads, as many other countries, and must act to prevent the situation from worsening, said Senior Urban Specialist in the World Bank (WB)'s Urban development, land and resilience department Dina Ranarifidy. Speaking at a conference held on Friday to present the "Tunisia Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR)," published by the WB in November 2023, Ranarifidy pointed out that economic and climate-related challenges are no longer independent but rather interconnected. She further recalled that the WB report had identified three priority areas that represent the main challenges: Water scarcity (a 66% drop in water resources per person and a 33.1% fall in agricultural production), sea water rise and floods (potential land losses of US$1.6 billion) and dependence on fossil fuels imports (a 2.7% increase in net emissions, representing an annual cost of US$6 billion). To address water scarcity, the W B report recommends controlling water demand, modernising, rehabilitating, and extending water networks and investing in seawater desalination and the reuse of treated wastewater. As for sea water rise and floods, Ranarifidy recalled that the report called for establishing a regional monitoring and early-warning system to help people prepare for water stress and increasing droughts. Investing in hydrometeorological and early warning services in Tunisia could generate a 3:1 rate of return, with an average reduction of US$12.4 million in annual disaster losses. As regards the decarbonisation of the energy sector, the official underlined that the stake consists in primarily ensuring energy sovereignty, adding that this action will help increase labour productivty by 2% and fueld savings by 10%. According to the WB's scenario, these actions could increase GDP by 9%, reduce poverty by 12% and slash energy emissions by 80% by 2030. Taking the floor, Environment Minister Leila Chikhaoui said that although Tunisi a contributes by only 0.007% to global emissions, it remains fully committed to efforts to combat climate change effects. Tunisia has embarked on this process by signing among others, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), submitting and then updating its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), as well as the national ecological transition strategy approved on Feberuary 3, 2023, and which commits all the ministries, she recalled. The minister further indicated that Tunisia has a major advantage when it comes to absorbing carbon emissions, namely the P. oceanica beds that grow in the sea and are considered to be carbon collectors 10 times more important than a tree in the Amazon. She pointed out in this regard, that Tunisia provides ecosystem services, hence the need for its partners' technical and financial support to strengthen this resilience for the benefit of the whole planet. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The African Development Bank (AfDB) gave its preliminary approval to fund a project to upgrade an 11-km forest road leading to Mount Zaghouan, said Manager of the agricultural systems development and promotion project in Zaghouan Ramzi Mellaouah. This initial approval follows a recent meeting between Zaghouan Governor Mohamed El Euch and an AfDB delegation which agreed to finance this project as it will speed up intervention in the event of fires and natural disasters in Mount Zaghouan forest area, Mellaouah told TAP. The financing proposal will be at heart of a study following an interim evaluation of the TND 12 million project next March. This road, which has become totally impractical, is of major importance due to its key role in boosting tourism in the region as it links the Temple des Eaux to the top of Mount Zaghouan and to the Sidi Bougabrine mausoleum, a symbolic monument for the local people. This in addition to being a privileged destination for camping and cultural and sporting activities. S ource: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Tunis stock market consolidated its upward trend from February 19 to 23. The benchmark closed Friday's session, with a weekly advance of 2%, to settle at 8524.62 points, according to the stock market intermediary, Tunisie Valeurs. On the exchange front, in the absence of block transactions, volumes were low, totaling a meager 13 MD. The Délice Holding stock was the most traded during the week, taking up 11% of the volume traded on the market. // Analysis of values// The UADH share topped the podium. The car dealership's share posted the best performance of the week, rising by +22% to 0.550 D, in a flow of 20,000 dinars. MPBS stock was among the biggest gainers of the week. The share of the wood specialist increased by 12.7% to 5.070 D, draining a modest volume of 178,000 dinars throughout the whole week. The Ciments de Bizerte share found itself at the back of the pack. The value fell by -12.3% to 0.640 D, in a trading volume of 11,000 dinars. Délice Holding was the most dynamic stock of the week, draining more than 1.3 MD on the price. The share price rose 2.4%, to 10.640 D. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

The Tunindex ended the week on a positive note up 0.33% at 8524.6 points), in modest volume of TND 4.2 million, according to broker Tunisie Valeurs. MPBS shares posted TND 7,000, up by 5.9% to TND 5.070. UADH shares rose by 3.8% to TND 0.550, generating a flow of TND 9,000. Air Liquide shares fell by 4.1% to TND 77.010, generating a volume of TND 2,000. BH Bank shares dropped by 2.1% to TND 10.500, trading TND 331,000. Délice Holding fed the market with a capital of TND 768,000, i.e. 18% of the total volume traded over the session. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

"The World Bank (WB) is willing to provide further support to Tunisia in projects of fighting climate change and reducing carbon dioxide emissions," said, Friday, WB Vice-President for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Férid Belhaj, during a meeting he had at the Government Palace in Kasbah with Prime Minister Ahmed Hachani. During the meeting, Hachani welcomed the cooperation between Tunisia and the World Bank in different areas, particularly, the projects funded by the Bank, reads a press release of the Prime Ministry. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Asserting the authority of the State, restoring the financial capacity of public operators in the energy sector and securing gas imports while boosting the electricity mix are the main measures to be adopted to preserve Tunisia's energy security, reads a study by the Tunisian Institute of Strategic Studies (ITES), made public recently. According to this study entitled «Preserving and Consolidating Our Energy Security,» the priority is to restore the capacity of the State, its institutions and operators in the sector so as to ensure the continued supply of energy to the national market. «The sector will collapse if energy users refuse to pay for the services provided for them and if the sector's public monopolies continue to sell their products at prices lower than the cost of their production and/or their purchase without receiving, within the time limit, the compensation to be provided by the Public Treasury.» To restore the rule of law, the proposed measures consist of recovering unpaid debts to compani es in the sector (STEG, STIR, ETAP, SNDP) by the Treasury and by unscrupulous customers as well as putting an end to electricity theft and fuel smuggling. It also involves applying the regulations in force concerning the obligation to constitute and maintain a safety stock of 60 days of fuel consumption, as well as those relating to the protection of infrastructures of vital importance and adopt a specific emergency response and crisis management plan. Yet, Tunisia is no longer a rentier country in terms of oil, these measures will not be able to clean up the accounts of STEG, STIR and ETAP, as long as energy Electricity, gas and fuels will be marketed at prices well below their cost price. To restore the financial capacity of public operators so that they can carry out the mission assigned to them, the authors of the study recommended reviewing the subsidy policy. «In the long run, a generalized and substantial subsidy of energy does not encourage sobriety or performance and slows down the development of alternative resources. To be effective, the subsidy of energy must be selective, targeted and judiciously managed over time. The abrupt cancellation of subsidies will have social costs. Likewise, their maintenance, without making all necessary adjustments, will lead to serious disruptions in the public energy service, and as a result, vulnerable populations will face a serious situation." The study adds that "reforming the energy price policy is a delicate operation which requires permanent consultation over several years between various stakeholders. The choice of products and the timetable for reducing their subsidy is to be designed by political authorities and senior administration. The progressive, selective and targeted reduction of energy subsidies must be followed by compensatory measures to support the most vulnerable social categories. Regarding the security of gas imports to ensure the continuity of supply of electrical energy in the short and medium terms, the ITES called for holding negotiation s as soon as possible with Algerian authorities so as to set the conditions of purchasing gas beyond 2027, give a strong impetus to the "solar plan" which has fallen far behind schedule, quickly implement the right project to equip public buildings with photovoltaic panels and encourage owners of homes and buildings with high electricity consumption to equip themselves with photovoltaic panels. Besides this emergency plan, the ITES study called for restructuring the sector financially in the short, medium and long terms, developing all national energy resources, controlling the demand for energy, diversifying suppliers of imported natural gas as well as increasing the organizational capacity of stakeholders. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Prime Minister, Ahmed Hachani, chaired, on Friday evening, at the Government Palace in Kasbah, a working session with a delegation from the World Bank Group, led by both WB Vice-President for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), Férid Belhaj and Regional Director of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for North Africa, Cheick-Oumar Sylla. The working session shed light on the various WB-funded projects implemented in Tunisia as well as future bilateral cooperation programmes, particularly in the areas of energy, agriculture, water, food security, higher education and scientific research, climate change and investment. The working session was attended by a number of Tunisian ministers. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse