FOM Newsletter June 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 June 9,  2001

World Bank inaugurates new country assistance strategy with Morocco
Morocco gets $ 97.6 mln loans from World Bank
Emigration Sapping Morocco of BrainPower, Bleeding Economy
Morocco will be Major Oil Producer in Five Years, Official
Francophone association of visually-impaired persons born in Casablanca
King Mohammed dedicates medical center for disabled

World Bank inaugurates new country assistance strategy with Morocco

The World Bank said the two loans to Morocco worth $ 97.5 million approved last week mark the start of a New Country Assistance aiming to guide the bank group's overall program in the country for the next three years, after it noted the significant progress made in the last decade in achieving macroeconomic stability and liberalizing the economy.  The international financial institution says in a statement the Bank's executive directors "emphasized the importance of the ongoing political opening, and commended the Government for the significant progress made in the welcomed the Government's increasing focus on poverty reduction and rural development." 

The WB said political opening has to be coupled with a strong growth-oriented economic program, anchoring the Moroccan economy more firmly on the dynamics of international trade, while ensuring medium-term fiscal stability. The newly-inaugurated Country Assistance Strategy proposes a "base case" lending program that would remain at about the same level as during the last five years, at about $250 million per year, which would be divided into a core component focusing on poverty, unemployment and human development, and a sector reform support component. The core poverty component would comprise about three operations, totaling $150 million, per year. These operations would support community-based rural development, education and literacy programs, employment generation and good public governance. The sector reform program would seek to support priority reforms by the Government through analytical and advisory work. Contingent on fiscal and sector reform, it could also include up to one adjustment operation of US$100 million per year. 

The strategy also envisions a 'high-case' scenario that would respond to the implementation by the government of a package of macroeconomic, structural and social reforms having the potential to accelerate economic growth and the pace of poverty reduction. Under such a scenario, WB's financial assistance could reach up to $450 million per year. Under the new strategy for Morocco, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) will play a role in helping to improve the business climate, through efforts aimed at mobilizing financing for complex projects, providing innovative financial instruments, especially for small and medium-size enterprises, and supporting institution building in the financial sector. 

The World Bank release adds that The Irrigation Based Community Development Program will serve as an entry point for the implementation of the Moroccan Government's new "2020 Rural Development Strategy" which calls for a more participatory, integrated approach to rural development. Under the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Water and Forests, the Program would seek to improve the incomes and quality of life of rural communities in 15 provinces over a 13-year period (2001-13), primarily through demand-driven, coordinated investments in small and medium scale irrigation and complementary community infrastructure, including rural roads, water supply/sanitation, electrification, health and education facilities. 

This project is the first "adaptable program loan" approved for Morocco, encompassing three phases over a 13 year period, for an overall program cost of US$242.4 million with Bank financing representingUS$172.6 million. The first phase of the Bank loan approved last week by the Board is US$32.6 million. It is accompanied by counterpart financing from the Moroccan government of US$6.63 million and a US$3.2 million from the local communities. The Information Infrastructure Sector Development Adjustment Loan, in which the World Bank contributed a US$65 million-worth loan aims to: support Morocco's telecommunication privatization and liberalization program, extend services and strengthen the regulatory environment of the telecommunications sector; assist in the formulation and implementation of a strategy for the use and development of information technologies; and formulate a national strategy for the postal sector, including the financial services provided through the postal network, which will serve as a basis for further specific reforms.

The World Bank granted Morocco on Friday two loans worth $ 97.6 million to support the communications and agriculture sector, the Bank announced on Friday. The first loan worth $ 65 million will expand the access and range of communication, information and financial services through the postal network for general users, businesses and rural population, emphasizing the introduction of competition and the participation of private providers. The project will support the government's program to deepen market liberalization, increase private participation, extend services and strengthen the regulatory environment of the telecommunications sector. It will also assist the government in formulating and implementing a strategy for the use and development of information technology. The project will also formulate a national strategy for the postal sector, including the financial services provided through the network, which will serve as a basing for further specific reforms. The loan is reimbursable in 20 years and carries an 8-year grace period.

The second loan, worth $ 32.6 million will help improve income and quality of life of rural communities through on small and medium irrigation in Azilal, Khenifra and Al Haouz provinces by rehabilitating and improving irrigation. The project will also pilot new institutional arrangements designed to ensure greater community participation and integration of sectoral programs through the Rural Development Fund.

Rabat, Jun 06, 2001 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Emigration from Morocco is sapping the North African nation of "brain power" and is "bleeding the economy" as more and more white-collar workers, especially telecommunications and computer engineers, are seeking better paying jobs abroad, the Moroccan news media has warned. According to a recent article in the financial daily Liberation, in 2000 between 50 and 60 percent of last-year students at the country's three top engineering colleges emigrated from Morocco, many of them before attending their graduation ceremonies. And the exodus of highly trained Moroccans includes more than just recent graduates, the daily said, noting that the Banco Central Popular recently announced that more than 100 of its 250 computer experts have received offers to work abroad. 

"A large number of my colleagues are in France, although now there is greater demand coming from the United States and Canada," said Allal, a 27-year-old telecommunications engineer working for a subsidiary of a U.S. multinational. He said many made the move for professional reasons, and not just for better pay. "In Morocco an engineer doesn't have the technical means that provide him with much needed experience." Mohamed Jachani, president of the Association of Migratory Studies and Research, agreed, saying the reasons why "this country is being bled are very complex and do not always center on money", even though the average starting salary for engineers in Morocco is about $1,000 a month, or about a third of what their European counterparts earn. 

Jachani said the main problems facing the Moroccan professional are "the lack of an adequate labor framework and too few possibilities of being promoted to better jobs". "Each time an engineer emigrates, the state loses one million dirhams ($100,000) that it invested in education," Jachani said, adding that this "very serious" situation for the Moroccan economy gets worse because the country then has to import qualified personnel and pay them market wages. Jachani said the "aggressive" recruitment activities of developed nations like Germany, the United States and Canada represents an "inverted transfer of technology that seriously hurts our country's economy". "In the long run, this kind of activity also harms the developed nations because they will ultimately be faced with an influx of immigrants from Third World nations" whose economies have been depleted of brainpower, Jachani said. According to United Nations data, each time a computer engineer emigrates, the country of origin loses about $50,000 a year in productivity earnings. 

RABAT - Morocco will be a major hydrocarbon producer in the five coming years, Director General of the Moroccan Oil company (ONAREP), Ms. Amina Benkhadra, said. The oil find, made last year in Talsint (south eastern Morocco) confirms that Morocco has an important potential that is still under-explored with 0.04 drilling per square kilometer, while the world average is 8 drillings per square kilometer, the official told La Nouvelle Tribune Weekly. She announced that several international firms are interested in the Rabat-Safi off-shore drilling area. The bid for this zone will be closed on June 30. In a bid to drain more companies to drill in the country, Morocco amended relevant laws. Under the new laws, State's share in oil finds were brought down from 50 percent to 25 percent. Tax exemptions were granted to firms over 10 years of production. Royalties were set at 10 percent for crude oil and 5 percent for gas.

Casablanca played host on Thursday to the constitutive assembly of the Francophone association of visually-impaired persons. The assembly, held under the patronage of King Mohammed VI, was chaired by princess Lalla Lamia, chairwoman of the Alawit Association for the protection of blind persons in Morocco. Secretary general of the International Francophone Organization, Boutros-Boutros Ghali, sent participants a message in which he hailed the initiative as humane and generous, allowing for a better integration of blind persons in active life and consolidate north-south cooperation. For acting chairman of the association, Richard Lavigne, the Union will be a forum of collaboration and solidarity opening a historic and hopeful way for the community of visually-impaired persons. An exhibition on education and work equipment for the blind was also held, displaying mainly a computer with a keyboard in Braille, reading and publishing devices, a sound library and games. The Alawit Association for the protection of blind persons in Morocco signed with the French Valentin Hauy association a convention for the training of educators and with the Tunisian national union of blind persons an agreement to develop cooperation. Participants came from Chad, Canada, Belgium, Mali, Cameroon, Madagascar, France, Tunisia, Switzerland, Gabon, Mauritania, the Netherlands, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Mauritius, Togo, Central African Republic, Guinea, Senegal and Burkina Faso.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI dedicated Wednesday a re-education and  re-adaptation center for disabled people in Bouskoura, Casablanca suburbs.  The center, the first of its kind in Morocco, will help reintegrate disabled people, especially those from poor milieus. Some 60 percent of patients will be accommodated and treated for free in the center, the fees being paid by a Moroccan association for the disabled (AMH), which operates thanks to donations. The remaining 40 percent will have to pay for their treatment. The king toured the various wards of the center, built over 2 hectares at more than $2.6 million (more than 30 million dirhams). Some 30,000 handicapped people will be treated annually in the center.

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