Moroccan government paid 9.8 billion dh in internal debt arrears

The Moroccan state treasury has paid 9.8 billion dh ($1.02 billion) in internal debt arrears, the spokesman for the government said on Thursday.

The payment reduced tangibly the state's internal debt, which currently stands at 3 billion dh from 13 billion dh last January, Khalid Alioua at a press briefing in Rabat.

The move, "the first of its kind in many years," will boost economic activity and shore up the trust of investors, he said.

Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance Fathallah Oualalou said recently that Morocco has paid back during the past six months 6 billion Dirhams (nearly $600 Million) of its external debt that stands at $8 billion.