AfDB Supports Morocco’s Industrial Acceleration Plan with €268 Million

The board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) group approved a €268 million financing to phase II of the Industrialization Acceleration Support Program in Morocco (PAAIM II), the financial institution announced on Wednesday.

The objective of this program is to promote Morocco’s industrial acceleration through the deployment of industrial ecosystems, the improvement of the competitiveness of operators in the sector and the financing of first-class industrial economic activities, the AfDB said in a statement.

The PAAIM II is a support to reforms through its complementarity with the Bank’s other areas of intervention, particularly in terms of infrastructure financing, which strengthens the country’s logistical competitiveness with greater availability of liquidity from financial institutions, the statement explained.

“The second phase of the PAAIM will make it possible to consolidate what has been achieved. This is a decisive step towards Morocco’s successful industrialization, which will bring the Bank’s overall financing to the PAAIM to more than €430 million since 2017,” said AfDB managing director for the North Africa region, Mohamed El Azizi.

This operation will promote the development of new integrated ecosystems, bringing the level of industrial integration to 60% and will contribute to facilitate access to industrial land at competitive prices, the AfDB added.
A portal will be created to simplify all administrative procedures for exporting companies, it said.

The PAAIM II is expected to contribute to bringing the total number of guarantees for very small and medium-sized enterprises to 11,000 in 2020 and to facilitate the financing of projects promoted by SMEs and SMIs managed by women.

“This operation will help improve Morocco’s industrial competitiveness and strengthen its integration into African and global value chains,” said Leila Farah Mokaddem, the Bank’s country manager in Morocco.

The AfDB’s support to PAAIM is aligned with two of the Bank’s High 5 goals, namely “industrializing Africa” and “improving the quality of life of the people in Africa”.

PAAIM is part of Morocco’s Industrial Acceleration Plan 2014-2020, which aims to achieve greater productive diversification to increase the share of industry in the country’s gross domestic product by 9 percentage points.