Tunisia's parliament on Tuesday approved a plan by the central bank to sell bonds worth $1 billion to help finance the 2018 budget, the state news agency said. The finance ministry directed the central bank after the approval by parliament's financial committee to issue the bonds in the second half of March, the agency said. The North African country previously said it needed $3 billion in loans next year to finance its budget of 36 billion dinar ($14.7 billion) in 2018. It forecasts the budget deficit to fall to 4.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2018, from about 6 percent expected in 2017. Tunisia aims to raise GDP growth to about 3 percent next year from 2.3 percent this year.

Tunisia is under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to speed up policy changes and help its economy recover from militant attacks in 2015 that hurt its vital tourism industry. The country has been praised as the only democratic success among the nations where "Arab Spring" revolts took place in 2011.

Copyright Reuters, 2018