The African Development Bank (AfDB) has extended a €190m ($210m) loan to Tunisia for road projects.

The loan will cover the rehabilitation of 719km of classified roads in the west and north-west of the country, and fund periodic maintenance.

This brings the total lending from development banks on Tunisian road projects to $576m in 2015.

The Kuwait-based Arab Fund for Economic & Social Development (AFESD) extended a KD50m ($166m) loan in October. The Washington-based World Bank offered a $200m loan to upgrade 146km of rural roads in July.

About 80 per cent of goods are moved by road in Tunisia, but highway building has prioritised coastal regions.

The AfDB approved a loan of €137.3m for Tunisia to finance a motorway project in 2011, and a $310m loan to rehabilitate 863km of roads, reinforce 691km of roads and modernise 53km of roads in 2010.

The road loans are in addition to IMF lending to support reforms, under a $1.6bn stand-by agreement. Tunis is carrying out banking, taxation and investment reforms in the hope of creating a better environment for business.