Morocco has solid economic fundamentals to face the current difficulties linked to the pandemic of the new coronavirus, underlined Marie Alexandra Veilleux-Laborie, director in charge of Morocco at the European Bank for reconstruction and development (EBRD).
The Kingdom has shown in the past its resilience to internal and external shocks, she noted in an interview with MAP, welcoming the proactivity of the Moroccan authorities in the management of the health crisis, from the appearance of the first case (March 02), in order to mitigate the negative economic and social repercussions.
“I am thinking above all of support for the most vulnerable populations, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and more generally businesses and employment, as well as support from the Central Bank (Bank Al-Maghrib) for the banking sector”, she said.
Each country will decide on how to revive the economy but, of course, it will be necessary to coordinate public policies internationally, especially given the economic interdependence between Morocco and Europe, she added.
We can expect an “extremely” difficult year 2020 economically and socially, not only because of the consequences of the health crisis, but also of the rainfall deficit impacting the agricultural sector.
Consequently, the balance of payments will be “strongly” impacted, notably due to the loss of income from tourism, the drop in money transfers from Moroccans residinf abroad and exports, mainly to Europe. In addition, there is a decline in domestic demand, which will have a strong impact on public finances with a sharp increase in the public deficit, she noted.
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