TUNIS: Tunisia has sold a seven-year euro-denominated bond worth 700 million euros at an interest rate of 6.37 percent, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

It said 182 investors made offers totalling 2.2 billion euros.

Citi is coordinating the deal, and is a joint lead manager together with Natixis and Standard Chartered .

Tunisia sold a five-year Eurobond in October worth 500 million euros with an interest rate of 6.75 percent.

The North African country needs around $2.5 billion in external financing in 2019, officials said. Parliament approved in May a government plan to issue bonds worth up to $800 million this year.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund approved the payment of a $247 million loan tranche to Tunisia, the sixth under its loan programme with the country, paving the way for the bond issue.

Tunisia has been hailed as the Arab Spring's only democratic success because protests toppled autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 without triggering violent upheaval, as happened in Syria and Libya.

But nine cabinets since then have failed to resolve Tunisia's economic problems, which include high inflation and unemployment, and impatience is rising among lenders such as the IMF, which have helped keep the country afloat.

Copyright Reuters, 2019

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