Morocco's hard currency reserves stand at $6 billion, prime minister
Morocco, Economics, 1/13/2000

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi said Thursday that up to last October, Morocco's reserves of hard currency stood at $6 billion (60 billion DH).

The prime minister, who made a presentation before the house of representatives on his government's action since it was appointed 18 months ago, said these hard currency reserves represent six and a half months of imports.

He added that external debt servicing is decreasing as a result of the reduction of the country's foreign debt which went down from some $20 billion in 1997 to less than $18 billion in 1999.

Meanwhile, external investments reached in 1999 a record $1.7 million (17 million DH), up by 275%, said Youssoufi who also underscored that consolidated confidence between enterprises and public authorities reflected positively on direct and corporate tax levying, which respectively increased in the last five months by 12.3% (direct taxes) and 50% (corporate tax).

In his presentation, Youssoufi defended the balance sheet of his left-led coalition government, recalling that it was appointed at difficult circumstances.

He also spoke of a series of reforms that the government will enact to promote employment, increase investments, improve the administration performance and ameliorate justice and human rights.

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