Morocco, US group to set up facility to finance small, medium enterprises
Morocco-USA, Economics, 9/17/2003

Morocco and the Washington-based International Finance Corporation (IFC) concluded in Rabat Monday an agreement on the setting up of a facility to finance small and medium enterprises in North Africa.

Under the agreement, Morocco's Agence Nationale pour la Promotion de la PME (national agency for the promotion of small and medium enterprises), IFC will provide technical assistance to this facility. The first donor board meeting of the North Africa Enterprise Development (NAED), held Monday in Paris, marked the formal launch of IFC's newest multi-donor small and medium enterprise facility. NAED will offer an integrated package of technical assistance and capacity-building services to support small and medium business growth in Morocco, Algeria, and Egypt.

In September 2002, IFC announced its partnership with the Swiss government to form NAED, with the parties contributing $5 million and $3.5 million respectively. Since then, additional funding from France ($3 million), Italy ($1.5 million), and Belgium ($500,000) has generated an initial total of some $13.5 in donor support for the new facility, which will be managed by the SME Department.

NAED is now beginning formal operations, leveraging IFC's investment program in the region and coordinating closely with the World Bank. In Morocco, NAED will also help Al-Amana, a leading Moroccan micro-finance institution, develop new financial products, namely the individual loan product, aimed at financing micro entrepreneurs. (MAP)MK

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