Morocco signs $109m loan deal with African bank

• Loan to fund infrastructure projects
• Focus on sustainability and job creation
• Unemployment at 1.6 million in 2023

Morocco has received a loan worth €100 million ($109 million) from the African Development Bank to fund new investment and sustainable infrastructure projects across the country.

The loan agreement was signed with Fonds d’Equipement Communal, a bank dedicated to financing investment projects and development programmes in Morocco.

Funds will be used to improve public services, especially in rural areas, and create jobs, particularly for women and young people.

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“Our priority in investing in latest-generation infrastructure is to include the territories and increase their attractiveness so that they become genuine development and competitiveness hubs,” said Achraf Hassan Tarsim, the African Development Bank’s country manager for Morocco.

Morocco’s unemployment rate increased by 13 percent to nearly 1.6 million last year as jobs in the country’s rural areas disappeared.

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Between 2022 and 2023, Morocco lost 157,000 jobs, figures from the Higher Commission of Planning showed.

Total unemployment for last year increased by 138,000, which was made up of 98,000 jobless individuals in towns and 40,000 in countryside areas.

It was higher among young people aged 15 to 24 (35.8 percent), graduates (19.7 percent) and women (18.3 percent).

As a founding member of the African Development Bank, Morocco is one of the institution’s main beneficiary countries. It has a cumulative commitment of more than $12 billion, covering sectors including energy, water, transport, agriculture, the financial sector and social development.