The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved the Country Strategy Paper (CSP) submitted by Morocco for 2024-2029, the AfDB announced on Monday.
The CSP is based upon Morocco’s long-term development model to enhance Morocco’s economic competitiveness and resilience, promote sustainable growth, and foster economic and social inclusion going forward to 2035.
“This new strategy sets the course, objectives, and pace of our investments over the next five years in the Kingdom, [the AfDB’s] leading partner on the continent, with over 12 billion euros mobilized in strategic sectors,” AfDB Country Manager for Morocco Achraf Tarsim said.
“The Kingdom is a source of inspiration, a country that proves that vision, capacities, and resources can make emergence a reality,” he added. “With this new vision, our ambition is to move to the next level and strengthen the excellent partnership [with Morocco] that has united us for almost 60 years.”
Morocco’s strategy focuses on inclusive growth through skill development, employability, and entrepreneurship, along with building resilience to external shocks by investing in sustainable infrastructure.
Morocco’s new CSP “innovates through its ‘water-energy’ nexus approach that will make it possible to develop more integrated projects that alleviate water stress and support strong, inclusive growth,” the AfDB stated. “The result of wide-ranging consultations with public and private stakeholders, the new country strategy draws on the lessons of the previous CSP, which helped consolidate Morocco’s significant progress in socio-economic development.”
In 2017-2023, the bank mobilized nearly 3 billion euros to support various initiatives across Morocco, including improving access to drinking water and desalination, enhancing healthcare facilities, expanding social insurance coverage, upgrading transportation infrastructure, and promoting regional development.
During this time, the bank helped to secure access to drinking water for five million Moroccans and extended health insurance coverage from 62% in 2017 to 100% in 2023.
The bank also played a significant role in supporting Morocco’s industrial sector, fostering small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly in exports, and boosting renewable energy projects to enhance the reliability of the Kingdom’s energy supply.
Morocco, a founding member state of the AfDB, has been a key recipient of the bank’s investments since 1978, with over 12 billion euros allocated to nearly 190 projects. The current active portfolio includes 40 operations in critical sectors such as health, water, agriculture, transport, energy, and finance, with investments totaling 3.5 billion euros.