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Rabat – The director in charge of Morocco at the European Bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD), Marie Alexandra Veilleux-Laborie, declared that Morocco’s economy expects an exceptionally difficult year, reassuring that the EBRD will provide the necessary support for a proper economic revival.
“We can expect an extremely difficult year economically and socially, not only because of the consequences of the health crisis, but also of the rainfall deficit impacting the agricultural sector,“ said Veilleux-Laborie in an interview with Maghreb Arab Press (MAP).
The balance of payments will be consequently strongly impacted, notably due to the loss of tourism revenue, the drop in remittances from Moroccans Residing Abroad (MREs), and exports, mainly to Europe, according to the EBRD official.
She also highlighted the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on public finances and highlighted the public deficit as a result of a decline in domestic demand.
In terms of Morocco’s economic resilience, Veilleux-Laborie said that Morocco has solid economic fundamentals to face the COVID-19-related difficulties, underlining that “it will be necessary to coordinate public policies internationally, especially given the economic interdependence between Morocco and Europe.”
Commending the proactivity and vigilance of the Moroccan authorities to cope with the COVID-19 threat, the director said that the country has shown its resilience to internal and external shocks.
The EBRD director in Morocco also seized the opportunity to recall that Morocco is the first country to benefit from EBRD’s €1 billion Solidarity Budget, which issued a €145 million loan to BMCE Bank of Africa to support small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
The loan aims to help Moroccan SMEs experiencing a decrease in activity, turnover, and profitability to address their liquidity needs and guarantee their resilience. The financial aid is also intended to “promote international trade to back up imports and exports from Morocco, which are now undergoing a crisis.”
Under the same support approach plan for Moroccan SMEs, the EBRD launched online training webinars to assist female entrepreneurs with training in digital marketing.
“Soon, we will launch webinars on the health sector,” Veilleux-Laborie concluded.
