BY: Hana Saada
ALGIERS- Morocco’s external debt has reached a worrying level with more than 65.41 billion dollars at the end of 2021, making it the 5th most indebted African country, according to a World Bank (WB) report on external debt.
Morocco’s external debt has been steadily increasing since 2010, when it was already estimated at $27.29 billion. In 2017, it completely doubled, standing at $54.99 billion, and reached 65.41 in 2021, the same report read.
In early March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that the kingdom had requested a flexible line of credit of 5 billion dollars to finance its budget deficit.
This new line of credit was added to another, known as the “precautionary and liquidity line”, obtained a few years ago from the IMF.
This situation has already raised questions among many experts about the management of the external debt.
In this sense, the economist Nadjib Akesbi pointed out, in a recent interview with the local press, that “the bulk of this new indebtedness, i.e. up to 85%, will only serve the debt accumulated until now “.
According to him, the debt service will reach 10.65 billion dollars, specifying that with such an amount, it will alone absorb 41% of the revenue generated by the entire tax system of the country.
Morocco is “doomed to remain entangled in the debt trap”, he said, noting that “to get out of this trap, it is necessary to reach a level of fiscal self-sufficiency compatible with the financing needs of the country”.
In its latest monitoring report on Morocco’s economic situation, the WB noted that Morocco’s real GDP growth fell to 1.2% in 2022, while the current account deficit increased by 2.3%. at 4.1% of GDP, and annual inflation peaked at 8.3% at the end of 2022.
