The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a two-year arrangement for Morocco under the Flexible Credit Line (FCL). The approved amount is equivalent to SDR 3.7262 billion.
The IMF said in a statement that Morocco was eligible to benefit from the FCL thanks to its economic policies, institutional policy frameworks and very strong economic fundamentals, as well as its continued commitment to maintaining these policies in the future.
The agreement will reinforce “external buffers” and provide insurance against potential risks on a temporary basis, the IMF said, adding that Moroccan authorities intended to treat the arrangement as “precautionary.”
IMF Deputy Managing Director Antoinette Sayeh highlighted Morocco’s “very strong” macroeconomic policies and institutional framework, saying that it has allowed its economy to remain “resilient” in the face of successive shocks throughout the past three years.
She added: “Despite this resilience, the Moroccan economy remains vulnerable to a worsening of the global economic and financial environment, higher commodity price volatility, and recurrent droughts,” noting that the IMF provides countries with protection against these possible risks.
Since 2012, Morocco has benefited from four successive agreements under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line, each of which amounted to about $3 billion.
The first approval came on August 3, 2012, and the approvals of the three additional agreements took place on July 28, 2014, July 22, 2016, and December 17, 2018.
The fourth agreement expired on April 7, 2020, when the authorities used all available resources to mitigate the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and maintain an adequate level of official reserves to alleviate pressures on the balance of payments.
