Italy confirmed on Thursday that it is willing to inject fresh investments into Tunisia, helping to negotiate an International Monetary Fund bailout for the North African country in the process. This move is expected to help curb the growing volume of migrants entering Italy for economic reasons. Currently, Tunisia is the main point of departure for some of the 31,000 migrants who have entered Italy this year.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani voiced Italy’s commitment while meeting with his Tunisian counterpart, Nabil Ammar, who previously spoke of migrants arriving at the Tunisian border from Libya who are seeking economic assistance.
According to reports from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Tunisia is experiencing its worst economic crisis in a generation, faced with inflation of 11% and growing food scarcity.
Currently, the Tunisian government is negotiating a loan from the IMF in the range of $2 billion to $4 billion as it looks to cope with its budget deficit.