The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Tuesday support for small businesses and trade in Morocco with funding of 40 million euros granted to Crédit Immobilier et Hôtelier (CIH).
Lhe virtual signing ceremony of the financing agreement took place in the presence of the President and CEO of the CIH, Lotfi Sekkat, Francis Malige, Director General of Financial Institutions at the EBRD, Marie-Alexandra Veilleux-Laborie, Director for Morocco at the EBRD, as well as Mike Taylor, head of financial institutions in the SEMED region.
For the EBRD, small and medium-sized enterprises constitute the beating heart of the Moroccan economy and are the most affected by the current health and economic crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Under this facility, the EBRD will provide a loan of 20 million euros to the CIH to provide medium-term financing to SMEs, thus increasing the availability of financing beyond the region of Greater Casablanca-Rabat, where 70 % of the Moroccan economy is concentrated, specifies a press release from the European Bank.
In addition to this loan, the EBRD is providing a trade finance line of 20 million euros to facilitate import and export transactions of Moroccan companies, adds the same source.
Morocco is a founding member of the EBRD and became a country of operations in 2012. To date, the EBRD has invested € 2.4 billion in the Kingdom through 65 projects.
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