First Independent Mena Newspaper
The member countries of ECOWAS have adopted a number of measures to jointly fight the COVID-19 pandemic, including devoting at least 15% of their annual budgets to strengthen health care systems, as they did during the Ebola epidemic few years ago. During a video-conference, chaired by President of Niger Mahamadou Issoufou, the heads of state […]
The Moroccan National Confederation of Tourism has sounded the alarm. The tourism sector has been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown it entailed worldwide. The tourism sector and all the activities that shape its value chain, i.e. hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and distribution networks, ground transportation and car rentals, event industry and […]
Morocco announced it will be imposing a night curfew between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. during Ramadan, which starts in the Kingdom on Saturday April 25. The Interior Ministry said in a press release that decision is part of the strengthening of the health emergency measures during the holy month. The Interior ministry stressed that […]
Moroccan authorities have banned the use and marketing of “walk-through disinfectant gates” because the used hazardous substances pose serious health risks to people. A joint press release issued Wednesday by the ministries of the Interior, Health, and Trade said the setting up and sale of these “sanitizing gates” are strictly banned in the country because […]
While Moroccan authorities are making huge efforts to limit the spread of the coronavirus that already infected 3,537 people and killed 151, some still do not take the situation seriously and continue to challenge the precautionary measures decreed in the country. Actually, since the state of health emergency was decreed on March 20, the police […]
Morocco’s high commission for planning issued bleak figures on the impact of coronavirus, which pushed 142,000 companies to halt activity, forcing 700,000 to temporary or lasting unemployment. In total, 57% of Moroccan enterprises, mostly small and medium sized have ceased operations. These comprise 135,000 enterprises that closed temporarily and 6,300 that declared bankruptcy, the HCP’s […]
The European Commission will grant Tunisia a €600 million loan to help the country limit the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. Tunisia is part of ten European Union enlargement and neighborhood partners for whom the European Commission proposed a €3 billion macro-financial assistance (MFA) package. Tunisia has forecast an economic recession estimated at 4.3 […]
Morocco is set to receive from the world football governing body (FIFA) 8 million euros as a stimulus package to cope with the adverse impacts of covid-19 pandemic on football in the kingdom after the Moroccan football federation, FRMF, has suspended all leagues. In addition to the €8 million grant, FIFA will also provide the […]
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Tuesday a €145 million financing facility to Moroccan Bank of Africa (BMCE Group) to support the country’s coronavirus response. This is the first investment to be delivered under the EBRD’s coronavirus Resilience Framework that was set up to meet the immediate short-term liquidity and working […]
Head of the Moroccan government said it was too early for accurate figures on the repercussions of the coronavirus on the Moroccan economy noting that a review of the appropriation bill is not possible in the absence of precise indicators. The IMF however has said the Moroccan GDP will contract by 3.7% while the high […]