King Mohammed VI receives chiefs of the World Bank, the IMF

King Mohammed VI received, Friday in Rabat, the President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, and the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgieva.

The audience took place just after the speech delivered by the Sovereign at the opening of the Fall session of the Parliament, to which the chiefs of the Bretton Woods institutions were invited.

The World Bank and the IMF are holding their annual meetings in Marrakech, from October 9 to 15. A flagship event that brings together more than twelve thousand participants, including 190 official delegations led by finance ministers and central bank governors.

Following the royal audience, the IMF Managing Director expressed, in a statement to the press, her gratitude to King Mohammed VI for the warm welcome extended to participants in the WB/IMF Annual Meetings.

“It is a great honor to be received by His Majesty the King. This Royal audience was an opportunity to express our gratitude to the Sovereign, the government, and the people of Morocco for their warm welcome at our Meetings,” she said.

This audience was also an “opportunity to show our solidarity with Morocco, particularly after the earthquake of September 8,” Kristalina Georgieva said.

For his part, the President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, commended the efforts exerted by King Mohammed VI to generalize social protection, as well as his leadership and commitment to promoting the living conditions of Moroccans.

“I commend the efforts of His Majesty the King to promote social protection in the Kingdom,” Banga told the media following the audience.

Banga said he was very honored by this royal audience, expressing his appreciation of the warm hospitality reserved by Morocco for participants in the WB/IMF Annual Meetings.

He took the opportunity to reiterate the World Bank’s support for Morocco in this post-quake period.

In his speech before the two chambers of the parliament, the Sovereign vowed that the earthquake-impacted areas will be rehabilitated and reconstructed and announced that the program on the granting of direct social assistance will be implemented by the end of the current year.

To give concrete substance to the values of social solidarity, which are deeply ingrained in Moroccans, “I have decided that this program should not be limited to the payment of family allowances. I have made sure it also includes some social segments that need support,” underlined the Moroccan Sovereign, indicating that this assistance will concern school-age children as well as children with disabilities, newborn babies, and also impoverished and vulnerable families without school-age children, especially those supporting elderly people.

Thanks to its direct impact, this program will contribute to raising the standard of living of target families and will help fight poverty and vulnerability, in addition to improving social and human development indicators.