Feb. 25 2015 – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved its first country strategy for Morocco, which focuses on key priorities identified in cooperation with the Moroccan government.
The priorities are:
Realising Morocco’s entrepreneurial potential, promoting women’s entrepreneurship and increasing finance to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Regional inclusion, promoting regional economic development and gender inclusion by improving the business environment and promoting equal employment opportunities in rural areas.
Supporting sustainability and commercialisation of public services and infrastructure, helping to improve the efficiency and quality of infrastructure and utility services through commercialisation of structures.
Advancing the development of capital markets, broadening the range of financial instruments and promoting innovative financial solutions.
To date, the EBRD has invested €380 million in 17 projects in Morocco in addition to €130 million worth of trade facilitation credit lines with local banks.
The EBRD was established in 1991 in response to major changes in the political and economic climate in central and Eastern Europe following the fall of the Berlin wall. In 2011, in response to the events of the Arab Spring, it agreed to extend its operations into the southern Mediterranean region. The EBRD finances projects, primarily in the private sector, that serve the transition to market economies and pluralistic democratic societies. The Bank is owned by 61 countries, the European Union and the European Investment Bank.