IFC provides Morocco’s Fez-Meknes Region $30 Mln for roads projects & Covid-19 response

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) supports Morocco’s Fez-Meknes region road projects and covid-19 response with a $30 million funding.

 

Ten million dollars will be used for the purchase of disinfection and sterilization equipment, which will be used to sanitize public places. The remaining $20 mln will support the region’s plan to expand and upgrade its rural road network, reducing regional inequalities and helping people in remote communities access jobs and social services.

 

An agreement was sealed Thursday between IFC and Fez-Meknès region, an important economic center.

 

“It is undeniably thanks to the knowledge of Moroccan realities by the IFC team and its listening skills that we were able to reach this happy conclusion,” said Mohand Laenser, the President of the Regional Council of Fes-Meknès.

The partnership with Fes-Meknes follows an agreement earlier this year that saw IFC provide $100 million in infrastructure-related financing to the Casablanca-Settat region. The pioneering initiative marked the first time a subnational government raised commercial financing without a sovereign guarantee, which is financing backed by a national government.

 

Speaking during the signing ceremony, Xavier Reille, IFC’s Country Manager for Morocco said : “We are helping the region of Fez-Meknes use innovative financing mechanisms to meet its development needs and fight the COVID-19 pandemic”.

IFC’s support to the region of Fes-Meknes is part of a broader World Bank Group effort to support regional development and decentralization in Morocco. IFC has been present in Morocco since 1963 and has been at the forefront of innovation, facilitating the country’s first public-private partnership for infrastructure development, among other highlights.