Morocco’s Central Bank teams up with IFC to improve women’s access to finance

Bank Al Maghrib, Morocco’s central Bank, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) have agreed to bolster their cooperation to enhance women’s access to financing.

Under the agreement inked on Monday in Rabat, Bank Al Maghrib will benefit from IFC’s expertise and its global networks to expand women’s access to funding and support women’s entrepreneurship.

The two sides will launch campaigns and capacity building activities in coordination with banks, payment institutions and other financial institutions to enable them better assimilate the specificities of women-owned and women-operated businesses.

To this end, the two partners pledge to identify and address the challenges faced in terms of gender-specific data collection and to accompany the actors in designing appropriate financial products.

Bank Al-Maghrib and IFC also agreed to promote financial inclusion of women-owned or managed businesses by disseminating, among financial institutions, the best practices related to banking services for women.

Currently, only 50 per cent of women-led firms in Morocco use a bank account and even those who do are often unable to use the full range of what banks have to offer.

Furthermore, Moroccan women entrepreneurs need business advice to make their businesses more competitive, as well as training, mentoring and network-building services.