Tunisia will require $4.4bn-worth of loans and other foreign aid in 2013 to support its post-revolutionary recovery, Finance Minister Slim Besbes has said.

Speaking at the Reuters Middle East Investment Summit, Besbes said most of the funds would be spent on economic recovery and compensating former political prisoners and other victims of the ousted regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.

“The government is also committed to restoring many of the former prisoners to work, and this will cost the state a lot of money,” he said.