Fez – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors approved on December 15 a loan of $450 million (MAD 4.1 billion) “to support key governance reforms in Morocco as part of the government’s ambitious strategy to modernize the public sector.”
“Over the past few years, Morocco has embarked on long-term and wide-ranging reforms to improve the overall performance of the public sector and to improve citizen-state engagement,” stated the World Bank press release.
This loan comes under the auspices of the “Morocco Public Sector Performance (ENNAJAA) Program.” Through this development project, the World Bank aims to “improve the performance and transparency of government operations and service delivery.”
The program’s objective aims to build on the results of previously implemented programs. These include the National Administrative Reform Plan (PNRA, 2018-2021,) the National Plan for the Dematerialization of Public Procurement, the 2017-2021 Strategic Action Plan of the General Tax Department, and the 2025 General Orientation Note for Digital Development.
While some of these sector strategies are coming to an end, they set the stage for public sector reform, guiding government reform towards this aim. In addition, the program’s activities are aligned with the priorities of the 2021 budget law, one of which is to accelerate administrative reform.
“For Moroccan citizens, the quality and transparency of public services is a fundamental development priority to foster trust and improve the timeliness and quality of administrative procedures, as laid out in the diagnosis of the New Development Model,” said Jesko Hentschel, World Bank Maghreb Country Director, stressing that this program intends to help to modernize the public administrative sector.
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The program is divided into three pillars. The first seeks to increase public expenditure efficiency and transparency as well as to improve resource allocation.
Commenting on this aspect, World Bank’s Senior Public Sector Specialist and co-Task Team Leader Klaus Decker stated that “addressing inefficient expenditure is a priority for the Government of Morocco,” adding that the overall aim is to link budgets to measurable outcomes.
The second pillar aims to improve revenue collection and tax compliance. The World Bank press release indicated that Morocco’s public administrations face complex tax policies, resulting in a dispersed tax control system which eventually diminishes the financing capacity for key development programs.
To address these limitations, the program will seek to streamline local taxation and use control mechanisms to expand the tax base.
The third pillar focuses on strengthening the foundations of digital transformation by digitally linking government institutions to provide users with integrated access to public services and encouraging open data generation and publication.
“Digitization of the public administration is key to improving the delivery of public services, especially in remote areas, and to strengthening trust between the State and its citizens,” stated Arthur Foch, senior digital development specialist and co-task team leader.
Morocco has recently introduced major reforms that encompass many of the county’s vital fields, such as education, economics, health, and public institutions. The newly introduced development model, for instance, focuses on updating multiple sectors of Moroccan society, such as agriculture, education, health, investment, and taxes.
The World Bank’s latest loan intends to assist the country to improve performance and transparency in operations and service delivery. This move is expected to have a positive impact on both the kingdom’s public administrative services and the citizen-state engagement.
