From Yahoo! News

Tunisia has signed a $500 million loan agreement with energy-rich Qatar to help bolster its currency reserves, the official TAP news agency reported on Saturday.

The deal, signed on Wednesday, stipulates that the loan will be paid back over a five-year period, the agency said. Tunisia has been struggling to achieve economic recovery since the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

The situation has been compounded by a lingering political crisis that erupted this year with the assassination of two opposition politicians in February and July.

Politics have been effectively paralysed as a result, and the North African country remains without a new constitution and functioning state institutions.

A national dialogue between the Islamist-led government and the opposition, which is demanding the formation of a cabinet of independents, have foundered.

In October central bank governor Chedly Ayari warned that failure by politicians to restore political stability is having dire repercussions on the economy.

From Yahoo! News