Morocco's first bond issue in euros paid

Morocco's first bond issue, worth 138.7 million euros (one billion FF), which was launched last March 22, was paid on April 9, it was officially announced in Rabat.

A statement of the Moroccan economy and finance department says the five-year bond issue, with a 3.95% interest rate will finance the servicing of Morocco's debt to France, exceeding 9% in interest rate.

It is guaranteed by the French Development Fund (AFD) as part of a Moroccan-French agreement signed last October.

The statement said 51% of the bond issue was paid in France, 26% in the UK, 15% in the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg), 5% in Switzerland and 3% in Italy.

The bond issue was launched by Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance, Fathallah Oualalou, and his French peer, Dominique Straus-Khan, on the occasion of the start of the economic events of the Kingdom's one-year long festival in France "Le Temps du Maroc en France."