Morocco paid back $ 600 million of its foreign debt, official says
Morocco, Economics, 1/22/1999

Morocco has paid back during the past six months 6 billion Dirhams (nearly $ 600 Million) of its external debt that stands at $ 18 billion, said Moroccan minister of economy and finance.

Fathallah Oualalou who was guest to a TV program broadcast Wednesday by the Moroccan second TV channel 2M said Morocco succeeded in reimbursing 6 billion DH and borrowed only 1.0 billion DH during the same period.

Touching on the "transition" character of the current budget, the minister said the budget takes into account a whole set of internal and external constraints. The management budget represents 52 % of the total budget of the state and 33 % of this budget is allotted to the payment of the external debt, he said.

Morocco, he added, had not managed to contain the problem of the external debt that was accumulated since the seventies and that hampered its development. To overcome the situation, Oualalou proposed the reduction of financial imbalance to enable the Moroccan economy shift from a situation of indebtedness to that of expansion.

The economy and finance minister stated further that the socialist-led coalition alternation government seeks to establish a synergy economy based on a change in relationships between the various actors of Moroccan economy, upgrading the competitiveness of the administration and the enterprise and the modernization of the fiscal system.

He stressed the need to upgrade the Moroccan enterprise which is now, he said, in an impasse, improve the environment for investments, encourage savings, increase exports, promote the internal market in addition to the necessity to increase the volume of foreign direct investments in the country.

As to the issue of unemployment, Oualalou said the problem is linked more to the employment market than to the budget. The government is seeking solutions to unemployment outside the frame of this budget. As an instance he mentioned the training-integration formula that created 25,000 jobs in the private sector. He also mentioned the law on micro-credits that has just been adopted by the parliament. This law, he said, is mainly targeting the struggle against poverty and unemployment.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco's debt to represent 31percent of GDP in 2003, says minister   (1/18/1999)
  Euro will have indirect effects benefiting Morocco, says European chief diplomat   (1/4/1999)
  Euro will give Moroccan businessman several advantages   (12/17/1998)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search