Saïed ratifies World Bank guarantees for STEG's overhaul after a bruising parliamentary vote
Two decrees dated July 20 and published in the official gazette (JORT) of July 21 ratify the guarantee conventions Tunisia signed on November 3, 2025 with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development: a 384.8-million-euro loan to the power utility STEG and a further 30 million dollars routed through the Clean Technology Fund, both for a programme to improve the reliability, efficiency and governance of the energy sector. The decrees implement laws 2026-14 and 2026-15, passed after a last-minute postponement of the bills in the assembly that several deputies called a "scandal", accusing speaker Brahim Bouderbala of trying to shape the outcome in the absence of some members. The money arrives during a heatwave in which STEG is running rolling cuts nationwide, making the terms on which the state electricity monopoly is recapitalised a live political question.