Morocco on Wednesday signed an exchange of notes for a Japanese loan of $ 200 million to support Morocco’s response program to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Signed by The Moroccan Economy and Finance Minister, Mohamed Benchaaboun and the Ambassador of Japan to Morocco, Takashi Shinozuka signed this agreement to support Morocco’s efforts to address the health, social and economic crisis caused by the pandemic, by quickly making additional resources available to the Kingdom to carry out health and social emergency interventions, and improve the resilience of the national economy.
This loan is co-financed with the African Development Bank (AfDB) under the ACFA Program (Accelerated Co-Financing Facility for Africa).
According to the Moroccan Finance Minister, the loan was approved with an “extremely low” interest rate of 0.1 percent, spread over a 25-year period, with a grace period of 7 years.
This loan supports Morocco’s policy in terms of upgrading health and providing the necessary means to support the situation of the covid-19 health crisis, the minister said, adding that this agreement also aims to support Morocco in all its efforts in terms of household support, economic recovery and support for SMEs.
For his part, Ambassador Shinozuka explained that this funding aims to improve the efficiency of the health response and the preservation of the purchasing power of citizens, in addition to strengthening Moroccan companies’ cash flow to increase their resilience to the shocks caused by the crisis.
Since 1976, Japan has funded a total of 37 projects in Morocco for a total amount of 310 billion Japanese yen (27 billion DH) covering different areas.
HA/fss/abj/APA