Rabat – The Hassan II fund will inject a budget of MAD 2 billion (around $208 million) to the Integrated Program for Enterprise Support and Financing, launched January 27.
Morocco established the Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development in 2000 to support investments in infrastructure and structuring projects.
The King chaired a signing ceremony today, January 31, that confirmed the Hassan II Fund’s contribution to the integrated financing program.
President of the Board of the Hassan II Fund, Dounia Ben Abbas Taarji, outlined the program’s initiatives.
She announced that the Hassan II Fund will provide an additional MAD 2 billion to the project, which will be reserved for the support of entrepreneurship initiatives in Morocco’s rural regions.
The Hassan II Fund will fund a quarter of the integrated program’s budget.
“This contribution by the Fund helped reduce the interest rate under this program, spurred by the King, to a historically low level limited at 1.75%,” Taarji announced.
Moroccan banks and government bodies are contributing MAD 6 billion (around $625 million) to the fund in support of entrepreneurship.
Taarji went on to explain that the fund seeks to empower projects belonging to small or very small businesses, “whether they are agricultural or non-agricultural, self-employed entrepreneurs or young project holders, young innovative companies or small farms.”
Following the chairwoman’s presentation, King Mohammed VI led the signing ceremony of the two agreements.
The first agreement verified the contribution of the Hassan II Fund to the entrepreneurship program.
Taarji signed the agreement along with Minister of Economy Mohamed Benchaâboun, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib Abdellatif Jouahri, and President of the Professional Grouping of Banks in Morocco Othman Benjelloun.
The second agreement implements the funding for “Al Moustatmir Al Qarawi” or the “rural entrepreneur.”
Taarji signed the second agreement, along with Chairman of Credit Agricole du Maroc Tarik Sijilmassi, President of Al Barid Bank Najmeddine Redouane, and Managing Director of the Caisse Centrale de Garantie Hicham Zanati Serghini.
