Half of Morocco's $23 billion external debt is owed to Paris club

Morocco's external debt is estimated at $23 billion, including half owed to the Paris Club, said here Thursday Francis Mayer, chairman of the Club in an interview with a Moroccan daily.

According to Mayer, Half of Morocco's debt to the Club of paris is owed to France. However, he explained, this debt was handled in a good way and the external debt-GDP ratio went down from 80 percent to 50 percent between 1993 and 1998.

He went on that the major procedure in handling Morocco's debts with France consists in swapping debts to investments, he added. As part of this program, one billion FF owed by Morocco to France was converted last year before French Premier Lionel Jospin visited Morocco, 700 million FF were converted during that visit and an additional 700 million FF was swapped last october during the Moroccan premier's visit to France.

In addition to debt swapping, he said, there are other mechanisms such as refinancing operations (reimbursing debts due to low interest rate loans) and early paying off to the Club of Paris. He went on that the Club of Paris accepted early 1998 that Morocco reimburses, by anticipation and without penalties, 1.2 billion FF in expensive debts owed to France.