Morocco/IMF: Drawing of 3 bln Dollars Will Not Affect Level of Public Debt, Official
Rabat - Morocco's use of the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) for drawing three billion dollars will not affect the level of public debt, said Monday in Rabat Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform Mohamed Benchaâboun. "This amount will not affect the level of public debt, which constitutes unprecedented news in Morocco's financial relations with the IMF," he said during the oral questions session at the House of Representatives on the financial and economic measures taken to face the Covid-19 crisis.
This drawing is part of the PLL agreement, signed with the International Monetary Fund in 2012 and renewed for the third time in December 2018, with the aim of using it as insurance against extreme shocks, like the one rocking the world today. The drawing will mitigate the effects of this crisis on the national economy, and preserve currency reserves at comfortable levels allowing to consolidate the confidence of foreign investors and of Morocco's bilateral and multilateral partners in the national economy.
Benchaâboun recalled that, in addition to the measures taken in favor of companies and employees, the Ministry of Economy and Finance took the necessary measures to reduce the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic on the Kingdom's foreign exchange reserves. According to him, it is also a matter of maintaining the capacity of our economy to meet its needs in terms of basic products, foodstuffs and energy, mainly following the shutdown of the tourism sector and the damage caused to the export sectors in addition to the expected drop in expatriates' transfers and in foreign direct investment (FDI).
"It is within this framework that falls the exceptional measure through which the Parliament granted to the government the authorization to exceed the threshold of the external debt set within the framework of the 2020 appropriation bill", he added. He also stressed that the Economic Monitoring Committee is closely following the situation of the national economy, and has put in place the necessary measures to ensure its resilience to this crisis with speed and efficiency in terms of making decisions and implementing them. "In addition to the immediate measures taken to support businesses and families, in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis and the implementation of the state of health emergency, it was agreed upon the development of a proactive methodology based on the elaboration of scenarios that could be implemented for the next two phases," he said. The first step concerns the gradual return of the various sectors to the exercise of their activities within the framework of coordination with the strategy for lifting the state of health emergency. As for the second stage, it concerns the implementation of appropriate and renewable mechanisms which will put the national economy on the path of strong and sustainable growth, in the post-crisis world, he explained.
This drawing is part of the PLL agreement, signed with the International Monetary Fund in 2012 and renewed for the third time in December 2018, with the aim of using it as insurance against extreme shocks, like the one rocking the world today. The drawing will mitigate the effects of this crisis on the national economy, and preserve currency reserves at comfortable levels allowing to consolidate the confidence of foreign investors and of Morocco's bilateral and multilateral partners in the national economy.
Benchaâboun recalled that, in addition to the measures taken in favor of companies and employees, the Ministry of Economy and Finance took the necessary measures to reduce the effects of the crisis caused by the pandemic on the Kingdom's foreign exchange reserves. According to him, it is also a matter of maintaining the capacity of our economy to meet its needs in terms of basic products, foodstuffs and energy, mainly following the shutdown of the tourism sector and the damage caused to the export sectors in addition to the expected drop in expatriates' transfers and in foreign direct investment (FDI).
"It is within this framework that falls the exceptional measure through which the Parliament granted to the government the authorization to exceed the threshold of the external debt set within the framework of the 2020 appropriation bill", he added. He also stressed that the Economic Monitoring Committee is closely following the situation of the national economy, and has put in place the necessary measures to ensure its resilience to this crisis with speed and efficiency in terms of making decisions and implementing them. "In addition to the immediate measures taken to support businesses and families, in order to mitigate the effects of the crisis and the implementation of the state of health emergency, it was agreed upon the development of a proactive methodology based on the elaboration of scenarios that could be implemented for the next two phases," he said. The first step concerns the gradual return of the various sectors to the exercise of their activities within the framework of coordination with the strategy for lifting the state of health emergency. As for the second stage, it concerns the implementation of appropriate and renewable mechanisms which will put the national economy on the path of strong and sustainable growth, in the post-crisis world, he explained.
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Morocco-IMF-Dra...