First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco’s trade deficit deepened 56% to 215 billion dirhams ($20 billion) up to August amid soaring prices of refined energy products, wheat and ammonia in the international market. Energy imports increased 128% to 103 billion dirhams in the first eight months this year, partly because Morocco imports all of its refined gas and fuel oils, […]
Thanks to decades of investments, Moroccan major banks increased their market share in the 8 countries of the West African economic community (ECOWAS) to 21%. A recent ECOWAS report highlighted the expansion of Morocco’s Attijari Wafabank, BCP and Bank of Africa, whose activities dominate some countries such as Mali. In Mali, the three banks have […]
The African Development Bank has approved a €199 million loan to finance Morocco’s competitive & resilient cereal development program to help boost food security, nutrition, and crops resilience across Africa. The program will help reduce Morocco’s cereal imports, focusing on improving productivity and the resilience of cereal production to climate change. It also provides for […]
The UNDP and Cameroon have inked a loan deal of $21 million earmarked to strengthen the resilience of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) of the central African country in addressing impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Journal du Cameroun reports. The agreement signed between UNDP Chief in Cameroon Jean-Luc Stalon and Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of […]
The looming debt crisis in Africa can only be resolved with a more stable and liquidity market in African government bonds, argue Daniel Cohen, the chair of Finance for Development Lab (FDL), and Ibrahim Elbadawi, the managing director of the Economic Research Forum, in a recent policy brief. As they struggle to secure investment to […]
Morocco’s central bank has hiked its key rates by 50 basis points to 2% to tame a soaring inflation, but this measure alone is not enough to tackle inflation according to central bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri. “The job of the central bank is monetary policy but growth is the job of the government,” he told […]
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) expects Moroccan economic growth to decelerate to 1.1 per cent in 2022, before rebounding the following year thanks to the anticipated agricultural performance and return of other sectors to pre-pandemic levels. In its Regional Economic Prospects report released this Wednesday, the Bank says economic recovery in Morocco […]
Madagascar’s State Inspectorate-General (IGE) Tuesday denounced the embezzlement of around 12.4 million euros (MAG51 billion) of state funds in the public Administration over a period of eight months. Daniel Randrianarivony, the Chief of the IGE made the announcement during the presentation of his organization’s report that audited the public administration from January to August this […]
Bank Al-Maghrib, Morocco’s central bank, decided Tuesday to increase its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 2 percent and to continue to monitor closely the economic developments, both nationally and internationally, and in particular, the evolution of inflationary pressures. The decision was made by the Bank’s Board after having analyzed the international economic […]
Skeptics say that despite China’s agreement to forgive interest-free loans to 17 African countries as it seeks to dispel debt-trap allegations, the days of Beijing writing off interest-bearing loans are over. The world’s poorest countries — many of them in Africa — are facing $35bn in debt-service payments in 2022, out of which around 40% […]