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Rabat – The Arab Monetary Fund provided a loan worth $127 million to Morocco, a statement from the Arab finance institution announced on May 20.
The press release said that the fund seeks to provide financial resources to meet the country’s needs amid the global COVID-19 crisis.
Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance Mohamed Benchaaboun signed the loan agreement with the General manager and Chairman of the Fund’s Board of Directors, Abderrahman ben Abdellah Al Hamidi.
The statement explained that the Arab Monetary Fund follows the development of Morocco’s economy closely.
The foundation is also monitoring the development of the pandemic in Morocco, emphasizing its commitment to continue to boost the “fruitful partnership with the Moroccan government to provide the most effective way to meet the various challenges.”
The Monetary Fund also announced that it is considering another loan for Morocco to support a reform program in the public financial sector.
The financial institution emphasized its commitment to continue to provide financial and technical support to its member states and assist them amid the COVID-19 crisis.
“This loan also falls within the framework of the Arab Monetary Fund’s keenness to support the efforts of its member states to implement economic, financial and structural reforms and confront various challenges,” the statement explained.
The fund announced that it is currently studying requests from a number of member states who seek to benefit from its financial resources.
In recent years, Morocco has secured several loans from international financial institutions.
Countryeconomy.com estimated Morocco’s national debt at nearly $77 billion.
The total debt in 2018 reached 64.96% of Morocco’s GDP, representing a 0.15% increase from 2017 (65.11%).
The country, however, is doing relatively better in terms of foreign debt, cost of borrowing, and reserve cover.
Ceic Data estimated the country’s external debt at $54.3 billion in December 2019 compared to $53 billion in the previous quarter.
Despite the external debt, Morocco appears as the 26th most financially strong state with a developing economy, according to the Economist’s recent study.
The Economist conducted a study on 66 emerging economies, using four sources of peril as indicators.
In addition to being 26th among all assessed states, Morocco ranked fourth in the Arab world.
