The Arab Monetary Fund has agreed to provide loans of USD211 million to Morocco and USD98 million to Tunisia to help the North African countries deal with the coronavirus crisis. Both Morocco and Tunisia rely heavily on the hard-hit tourism sector as a source of hard currency.
The United Arab Emirates’ state news agency WAM reported that the agreement was signed by Mohamed Benchaaboun, Minister of Economy, Finance, and Administration Reform, on behalf of Morocco, and Dr. Abdulrahman al-Hamidy, Director-General Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the AMF.
Two weeks ago, the AMF announced that it had extended a USD127 million automatic loan to Morocco. The loan is part of an agreement signed on May 7 that is meant to “provide financial support to strengthen the Kingdom’s financial position and meet emergency needs.”
As for the Tunisian loan, it was signed by Dr. Marwan Abbasi, Governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia, and by Dr. Abdulrahman al-Hamidi, Director-General and Chairman of the AMF.
The AMF had extended a new automatic loan to Tunisia, with the amount of USD59 million with the aim to provide financial support to strengthen the country’s financial position and meet emergency needs.
The AMF is currently looking into financing requests from other member countries, and is processing the requests through expeditious procedures, in order to provide support as quickly as possible, so that the borrowing member countries can meet financing needs and enhance their financial positions to face various challenges, especially during such times.
