Decades of collaboration for constantly improving results

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The event would have gone unnoticed had it not been for the duty of remembrance approach of the Policy Center for the New South (PCNS). This is the last fifteen years of collaboration between the Kingdom and the Bretton Woods institution. It all started last month, on February 20, 2024 to be precise, when Policy Center and the World Bank took advantage of the organization of an event to discuss the results of a recent evaluation of the partnership between Morocco and the institution. global financial sector.

In a difficult international context, the initiative is beneficial in more than one way because it was an opportunity to review the achievements, the challenges encountered and the opportunities to come in order to guide future collaboration between the two parties. In this matter, the figures speak for themselves. Indeed, with an investment of approximately $16 billion, between 2011 and 2024, the World Bank has consolidated its position as Morocco’s main development partner.

According to the two institutions, the Kingdom and the World Bank have, over the past 15 years, worked together to promote the economic and social development of the country. “This period was marked by Morocco’s continued commitment to implementing structural reforms and initiating a transition towards a new development model,” they note.

These essential collaborations, we read in their presentation, have had a concrete impact. To understand this, we have to go back to 2010. At that time, Morocco ranked 128th out of 180 countries in the World Bank’s Doing Business ranking. This poor position has accelerated government action to improve its position and initiate a broader reform of the business climate, note PCNS and BM.

Access to financing

To support this desire, the Breton Woods institution has joined forces with the National Business Environment Committee (CNEA) to implement specific reforms, such as the simplification of business creation procedures and the elimination of minimum capital required for a limited liability company, now set at zero dirham.

That’s not all since initiatives have been launched to expand access to financing by removing obstacles to obtaining credit and extending the banking network to less developed regions. Result: this collaboration led to a significant improvement in Morocco’s ranking. It thus rose to 53rd place in 2020, illustrating an example of successful collaboration between the World Bank and the Moroccan government.

At the same time, collaboration between the World Bank and Morocco has extended to various sectors, notably that of human capital, with, among other objectives, the modernization of the social protection system. The Bank played a leading role alongside the Ministry of the Interior in the design and implementation of mechanisms for targeting transfers to households.

In addition, initiatives were launched to expand access to financing by removing obstacles to obtaining credit and extending the banking network to less developed regions. This technical collaboration led to the establishment of the National Register of the population and the Unified Social Register.

Expected objectives

The same is true for sustainable development; measures have been taken, among other things, to strengthen the country’s resilience to climate risks, with particular emphasis placed on disaster prevention. The WB-Morocco partnership has also extended to more efficient management of natural resources, including initiatives to improve water use and reduce solid waste production.

However, underline the speakers, areas of collaboration need to be boosted. In their analysis, it appears that the multiple fields of joint action between the World Bank and Morocco have not always achieved the expected objectives of which the private sector remains the typical example. Indeed, despite the shared desire to strengthen competition and promote fair commercial practices, persistent obstacles still hinder the development of VSEs/SMEs.

These obstacles hamper the ability of business categories to fully contribute to economic growth and job creation. According to the World Bank’s diagnosis, despite the various measures taken in their favor to facilitate their access to financing, reduce payment deadlines, or improve their governance, these companies operate in a restrictive tax environment and face distortionary advantages. which rather favor public companies.

Finally, beyond the nature and quality of the results of this development partnership, the collaboration between Morocco and the World Bank has always and will continue to be anchored on three fundamental pillars. First of all, open and constructive dialogue allowing an exchange of expertise and perspectives between the two parties.

A concrete example of this approach lies in the Country Economic Memorandum developed in 2017 by the World Bank. This document played a crucial role in initiating an in-depth national debate on Morocco’s New Development Model, the speakers concluded.