IMF chief lauds Morocco’s reform, says Marrakech ‘ideal’ place for annual meetings

Visiting IMF managing director Kristina Georgieva praised Morocco for its economic reforms while saying the country was the ideal place for holding the IMF-WB annual meetings next October.

Following talks with head of Moroccan government Aziz Akhannouch in Rabat, Georgieva said Morocco knew how to navigate the post-covid crisis thanks to targeted government actions.

She also emphasized that the prospects for developing cooperation with Morocco are “very promising”, and that the Kingdom enjoys considerable confidence on the part of international financial institutions.

Georgieva also met finance minister Nadia Fettah Alaoui and central bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri and flew to Ouarzazate where she was enchanted with breathtaking views and centuries-old history.

She also spoke at a conference on central bank digital currencies highlighting the need for coordinated action to set up a common infrastructure that would allow for interoperability.

The IMF-WB annual meetings are expected to bring together 14,000 delegates in October in Marrakech as the world seeks to bridge the fragmentations induced by a changing world order.

For the Moroccan finance minister, these assemblies will be an opportunity to highlight the major reforms implemented by Morocco in various areas of development, noting that the Kingdom will host the WB/IMF annual meetings after a 50-year absence from the African continent.
The choice of the Kingdom to host such a flagship global event testifies to the considerable interest that the international financial institutions have in Morocco, she said.

Nadia Fettah pointed out that these highly important meetings, which will bring together economic and financial players from all over the world, are also an opportunity to reconsider the tools used by these international institutions to help developing countries, particularly in Africa.