Interest is charged at a rate of 5%, with a grace period of between 3-12 months depending on the nature of the project and the extent of self-financing. The BTS also operates through independent micro-finance organisations that hand out credits of up to TND 5 000 and are expected to achieve an 80% recovery rate. Currently, 280 such organisations exist. For these loans, applicants need to put down a guarantee of 10% of the required capital from their own sources.