The World Bank announced a $400mn loan to support Tunisia’s “social reforms” this week. The funds are likely conditional on the implementation of reforms that successive administrations have been unable or unwilling to carry out: a reduction in the public-sector wage bill, phasing out subsidies and restructuring debt-ridden state-owned enterprises. These issues lie at the heart of ongoing talks with the IMF on a new funding program which is key to rescuing the country’s crumbling finances (MEES, 29 October 2021).