Announced earlier this year, the $500 million loan agreement committed by the African Import-Export Bank (Afreximbank) to boost Tunisia’s trade and investment with the rest of Africa has finally been signed. The document was inked June 22 by Benedict Orama, Head of Afreximbank, and Marouan Abbassi, the governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia.

The loan will be made available to Tunisian banks to support local economic operators in their trade and investment operations on the continent.

Founded in October 1993, Afreximbank is a multilateral institution dedicated to financing and promoting intra- and extra-African trade. Since its inception in 1994, the Cairo-based bank has disbursed more than $67 billion in credit facilities to financial institutions and companies from its member countries.