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Rabat – Morocco and the German Development Bank (KfW) signed on Thursday a loan and subsidy contract for the financing of Morocco’s national shared liquid sanitation program.
With a budget estimated at MAD 34.3 million ($34.3 million), the program aims to implement sanitation projects in 35 centers at the level of rural municipalities in several provinces across Morocco, including Al Haouz, Chichaoua, Essaouira, Taroudant, and Chefchaouen.
According to the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance, Fouzi Lekjaa, Minister Delegate in charge of the state’s budget signed the contract today with Jorg Dux, the head of KfW’s Water and Sanitation department.
Lekjaa and Dux both welcomed the deepening of ties between Morocco and Germany.
The two officials also spoke of the need to increase and strengthen access to KfW’s financial resources.
Morocco has in recent weeks been facing its severest drought in three decades. In October, King Mohammed VI called for fresh measures to tackle water scarcity challenges.
The King called for a policy of shared responsibility and “diligent handling” of water, warning that water scarcity should not be “exploited for political outbidding purposes, nor should it be used to stoke social tensions.”
The monarch also called for “greater efforts to ensure rational, responsible use of water.”
Germany has over the years continued to pledge support for Morocco’s green transition and renewable energy projects.
In October of this year, Germany vowed to allocate €38 million (MAD 408 million) to support the construction of Morocco’s first green hydrogen plant. This came amid bilateral efforts to consolidate diplomatic and economic ties between Rabat and Berlin.
In November, Germany also pledged to deliver €165 million (MAD 1.8 billion) to Morocco to assist the country in its efforts to boost financial inclusion and support for small businesses.
The budget includes a €150 million loan from Germany’s KfW.
A tweet from the Gemran embassy in Rabat also announced recently that KfW has agreed to issue a €122 million loan to support Moroccan efforts to generalize social coverage.
The loans reflect the improvement of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Germany and Morocco recently vowed to strengthen diplomatic ties after months of tensions caused by Germany’s previous position on Western Sahara.
As the two countries’ diplomatic divergences grew last year, Morocco recalled its ambassador from Germany to protest Berlin’s exacerbated “hostile acts against Morocco’s higher interests.”
In December 2021, after months of friction, Germany announced its readiness to turn the page and described Morocco’s Autonomy Plan as a “good contribution” to the UN-led political process to end the long-running stalemate in the Western Sahara dispute.
