Day: May 29, 2024

Tunis: The sky will be partly cloudy in most areas on Wednesday night, with temperatures ranging from 16 to 20 degrees Celsius in the north and highlands, and 21 to 26 degrees Celsius in the rest of the country, according to the National Institute of Meteorology (INM).

Winds will be from the north in the north and centre and from the east in the south, relatively strong and locally gusty in the south and light to moderate in the rest of the country.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: There is need to review the international financial system, especially the multiparty system so that it becomes fairer and meets the sustainable and inclusive development needs of African countries, said Economy and Planning Minister Feriel Ouerghi.

There is also need to provide the right conditions for promoting the private sector in Africa so as to support the efforts of governments and countries in socio-economic development, she added while taking part in a governors’ discussion on “Mobilising Finance for Private Sector Development in Africa,” held on the fringes of the African Development Bank Group’s 2024 Annual Meetings, held on May 28-29 in Nairobi, Kenya.

Ouerghi also met, on the sidelines of these annual meetings, with AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina and AfDB Director General for North Africa Mohamed El Azizi.

Attended by AfDB Deputy Director General for North Africa Region Malinne Blomberg, Ouerghi expressed hope to scale up cooperation with the Bank over the next period, especially in te
rms of funding priority public and private projects.

She also called for flexible, advantageous financing to be mobilised to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

On this occasion, she commended the AfDB’s efforts to speed up preparation of studies on the creation of the “Bank for Youth Entrepreneurship” project, reiterating Tunisia’s readiness to provide the necessary institutional and logistical support to the newly created African Pharmaceutical Technology Foundation (APTF) in Rwanda.

For his part, Adesina affirmed the AfDB’s continuous support to the the reform process in Tunisia and voiced readiness to examine priority projects requiring financing.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The decriminalisation of bounced cheques in Tunisia will certainly put an end to the rule of the jungle in the financial transactions sector, which for several years has ruined thousands of families, investors and young promoters and caused the loss of thousands of jobs.

Adopted by the Cabinet meeting on May 22, 2024, the bill amending the provisions of Article 411 of the Commercial Code and Chapter 96 of the Criminal Code aims to ease the penalties (criminal and financial) for bounced cheques and to consider the possibility of replacing the prison sentence with an alternative penalty.

It also provides for making it a criminal offence to receive a guarantee cheque, introducing the principle of cumulating sentences handed down in the same trial, reviewing prison sentences handed down by different courts and broadening the scope of settlement procedures to include the penalty enforcement phase.

Contacted by TAP, chartered accountant Hamed Mama described the amendment as ‘good news, provided that we ma
nage to set up a system that provides a better guarantee of debt recovery, for example by adopting the concept of electronic cheques or introducing the use of bank cards.”

However, spokesman for the National Association of SMEs Abderrazzek Haouas considers that there is nothing new in this amendment, especially as the government intends to maintain the penalty aspect.

‘There are no additions or amendments to Article 411 regarding the criminalisation of the receipt of a guarantee cheque,” he pointed out, adding that the Association ‘presented a roadmap which unfortunately was not taken into account by the supervisory authorities.’

//A disappointing new bill //

For many business leaders, notably those already convicted of bounced cheques, the new bill is ‘a disappointment.’

Ons, a once prosperous young businesswoman who has lived in seclusion for several years, said that the problem today is not the amendment of article 411 of the Commercial Code, but rather the cancellation of legal proceedings.

Sentence
d to 20 years’ imprisonment for bouncing cheques worth TND 30,000, the young former business leader considers it urgent to declare an amnesty and release prisoners sentenced to several years’ imprisonment.

‘Trials for bounced cheques have shattered entire families and caused the loss of dozens of jobs,’ she indicated, calling for ‘a revolutionary decision that takes account these human stories and meets the needs of the current situation.’

//At a legal level, the bill will not solve the problem//

The abolition of the penalty of imprisonment will not have a positive impact because the issuer of the cheque may at the same time be a beneficiary in other transactions, argues legal expert Wassim Ajengui.

‘They are caught between increasing or reducing the penalty incurred,’ said the official, adding that ‘increasing the penalty makes it impossible to repay the debt and reducing it encourages people to write bounced cheques.’

‘He added that the new provisions should be redrafted as a matter of urgency before b
eing adopted by the Assembly of People’s Representatives, as the proposed revisions are not effective.’

A bounced cheque generally has negative consequences for the individual, as the penalty is aimed at the economically active member of society, which means more debts, the official added.

According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of Justice, 204 people were imprisoned for the offence of issuing bounced cheques at the end of April 2024, out of a total of 496 people taken into police custody.

In addition, 11,265 complaints were lodged by the Department of Justice for offences related to the issuing of bounced cheques.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The second tranche of the 2024 national bond issue will be listed on the Stock Exchange and will start to be traded as of Wednesday, May 29, 2024, the Tunis Stock Exchange announced on Tuesday.

The Treasury managed to raise TND 1,444.7 million for the second tranche of the 2024 national bond issue, compared with the TND 700 million initially forecast in the 2024 Finance Act, i.e. a response rate of about 206%.

The amounts subscribed between May 6 and 13, 2024 mainly came from stock market brokers (60%) and banks (40%), Tunisie Clearing Managing Director Maher Zouari told TAP, recently.

He recalled that the Treasury had managed to raise TND 1,033.7 for the first tranche of the bond issue (subscriptions from February 5 to 13, 2024), exceeding the initial target of TND 750, i.e. a response rate of 138%.

The government aims to raise TND 2.87 billion through the issue of the four tranches of the 2024 National Bond Issue.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: The launch of a project to develop a bridge maintenance system was the focus of a memorandum inked on Wednesday between the Public Works and Housing Ministry and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

This project will ensure that the Tunisian side makes the most of Japanese technology and know-how, through capacity-building for the implementation of a database and a high-performance monitoring and decision-making support system, said JICA in a press release on Wednesday.

This system will be used to plan and carry out maintenance and repair operations on bridges that are directly managed by the Directorate General of Roads and Bridges (DGPC) and its various regional directorates, such as notably the Rades-La Goulette bridge, one the biggest JICA-funded infrastructure projects in Tunisia.

With the signing of the memorandum, JICA can now proceed with the recruitment of a multidisciplinary team of Japanese experts who will work for around three years with their DGPC counterparts, sharing th
eir expertise with them.

This technical assisstance will also include training sessions in Tunisia and Japan, in addition to providing the necessary equipment for the implementation of this project.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Tunis: Tunindex closed Wednesday’s session slightly down by 0.01% to 9,492.4 points with a heavy volume of TND 10 million, said broker Tunisie Valeurs.

The stock market has posted a good 8.5% performance since the start of the year.

ONE TECH HOLDING shares were the best performers after rising by 4.4% to TND 8.140, feeding the market with a capital of TND 876,000 and becoming one of the most dynamic on the market.

DELICE HOLDING shares were the most active during the session. The stock price edged up 1.3% to TND 11.850.

SMART TUNISIE shares also performed well, rising by 3.7% to TND 17 and generating TND 131,000.

CELLCOM shares fell by 4.2% to TND 2.070, with a low volume of TND 1,000.

ATB shares also dropped by 3.4% to TND 3.140, generating only TND 95,000.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse