Following the fall of the authoritarian president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali , the poor health of the three major state banks has come to light . Because the three big state banks ( Société Tunisienne de Banque , Banque de l'Habitat , and Banque nationale agricole ) make up about 40 % of total banking assets in the country , they are structurally important for the economy . As Tunisia 's tourism sector has suffered following the 2011 revolution and the 2015 terrorist attack in Sousse , the state banks ' financial health has deteriorated , since approximately 40 % of their bad debts come from the tourism industry . Two of these large state-owned banks , Société Tunisienne de Banque and Banque de l'Habitat , received 867 million dinars ( $ 440 million ) in government bailout money in August 2015 . This recapitalization sparked protest from activists such as the NGO I Watch , which demanded that the results of a government audit of the three state-owned banks be made public . The main concern is that these state-owned banks were obliged to provide loans to allies of Ben Ali during his administration that have never been repaid and are counted as " gifts . " Despite protests from Tunisian parliament members such as Hafedh Zouari and Sami Abbousaid for more transparency over the bailout funds and the state of the banks ' finances , the bailout was approved by a large margin . Following the state recapitalization , the IMF provided a $ 300 million emergency loan and the World Bank provided a $ 500 million loan , both with the goal of restructuring the state banks in the hopes of sparking economic growth . Finance minister Slim Chaker has promised to restructure the three state banks before the end of 2015 .
2015 terrorist attack in Sousse
2015 Sousse attacks
Banking in Tunisia