During a virtual meeting held on Friday with Mohamed Benchaaboun, minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform, and Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib (Morocco’s central bank), Georgieva underlined the commitment of the IMF and the international financial community to supporting developing countries in their efforts to accelerate economic recovery and strengthen resilience to future shocks, said a statement by the ministry of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform.
On the occasion of this meeting, initiated on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank (and the IMF, which took place virtually from April 9 to 11, 2021, Georgieva called on the Kingdom to continue its reform programs and take advantage of new opportunities that arise in particular in the areas of climate and digitalization.
For his part, Benchaaboun highlighted the main response measures adopted by Morocco, in particular through the establishment of the Covid-19 Fund.
He also outlined the priority reform projects undertaken by Morocco, in accordance with the High Instructions of HM King Mohammed VI, in particular the post-Covid recovery plan, the reform of the public sector and the program for the generalization of social protection.
The minister also praised the management of the IMF for the initiatives launched to mitigate the negative effects of the Covid-19 crisis. In this regard, he called on the IMF to set up initiatives dedicated to middle-income countries, including Morocco, in order to meet their specific needs in the context of the current crisis.
For his part, Jouahri commended the work accomplished by the IMF during this period of crisis under the leadership of Georgieva, and thanked the IMF for the technical and financial support provided to Morocco in particular through its Precautionary and Liquidity Line.
The Governor of the Central Bank also highlighted the Kingdom's commitments and the progress made in other priority sectors including green finance, public-private partnerships, financial inclusion and digitization.
At the end of this meeting, the two parties reaffirmed their commitment and common will to further strengthen relations of cooperation between Morocco and the IMF and to ensure the success of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the IMF, to be held in Marrakech in October 2022.