Symposium on “Funding National Economy: Towards an Integrative Development” Reaches Positive Outcomes
Under the High Patronage of HM King Mohammed VI, may God glorify him, the House of Representatives hosted, Wednesday, January 29th, a symposium on “Funding National Economy: Towards an Integrative Development.” The symposium took place with the participation of Speaker of House of Representatives Habib El Malki, Speaker of House of Councilors Hakim Benchemach, Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform Mohamed Benchaâboun, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib Abdellatif Jouahri, Chairman of the Moroccan Banking Association Othman Benjelloun, and President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises CGEM Chakib Laâlej. The participants gave valuable presentations that discussed the topic dealt with in the symposium, explored the future through suggestions relating to legislation and regulation, and debated relations between funding institutions and enterprises.
The symposium also included a general debate that witnessed the intervention of several Moroccan Bank CEOs, Deputies, and Councilors, which enriched the activities of the symposium. The latter ended with agreement on several conclusions regarding the issue of funding the national economy, considering the views of the concerned parties and partners.
Participants in the symposium expressed their heartfelt and sincere gratitude to HM King Mohammed VI may God glorify him, for the high patronage He kindly granted the symposium, and His Majesty’s support for enterprises, and the economic and services sectors. They also praised the dynamism He initiated in the speech He gave on the opening of the legislative year, in which He urged the national banking sector to stronger commitment and involvement in development, primarily through funding investments and supporting productive, job-creating, and income-generating activities.
They also noted the full engagement of financial actors in funding and accompanying enterprises, following to the directives set by HM King Mohammed VI in his speech at the beginning of the 2019-2020 Fall Parliamentary Session. They also highlighted their engagement in the Integrated Program to Support and Finance Enterprises, which was presented on January 27th in a ceremony chaired by HM King Mohammed VI.
The Participants also stressed the importance of interaction and dialogue between the legislative branch, executive branch, the private actors represented in the symposium by the banking sector, and the monetary authority in facilitating the funding of the local economy and diversification of its sources, and in making of it a self-financed economy that creates new productive activities.
They also shed light on the importance of funding the mechanisms for private investment initiatives, especially those of youth in rural areas, lauding the inclusion of the rural population in one of the agreements signed on Monday under the chairmanship of HM King Mohammed VI. They also considered that the challenge of starting new entrepreneurial dynamisms in rural areas is part of the obligation of including these areas in the mechanisms of funding the national economy, implementing a comprehensive vision to ease their access to funding and assistance, and increasing their contribution to the integrative development and territorial balances. The Participants also suggested the creation of private regional financial institutions, and other joint institutions gathering both public and private sectors to support regional and territorial development.
The symposium stressed the importance of commitment of the Moroccan Parliament to this new dynamism, through speeding up the legislative procedures to adopt the necessary texts that regulate it, and most importantly through the supervision of their application by publishing statutory instruments that regulate said application, controlling and evaluating public policy, and formulating collaborative proposals to their improvement by accompanying and controlling all the programs whose implementation mechanisms were signed under the chairmanship of HM King Mohammed VI.
The participants also stressed the importance of improving the mechanisms and conditions allowing the legislative branch to control policies and achievements in entrepreneurial development, through preparing an annual report on the public support of project and enterprise owners and intensifying the dialogue with the Parliament in this regard. They also highlighted the need to accelerate the procedures for adopting and implementing related legislations.
Besides, the participants praised the initiative of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administrative Reform, which establishes an earmarking fund called “Fund to Support Entrepreneurship Financing” with a budget of six billion dirhams over three years as part of the partnership between the State and the banking sector. They also praised the initiative of reforming the classification criteria for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. This will contribute to the efficiency of public support policies targeting said enterprises.
Additionally, they lauded the measures taken by Bank Al-Maghrib to refinance the loans granted to targeted categories and reduce the prudential regulations applied to them. They also urged the different controlling authorities to keep their efforts of reviewing prudential regulations regarding financing projects of young entrepreneurs and the micro and small enterprises, to encourage and fund these categories.
They also praised the measures taken by the banking sector and called for more significant efforts to ease access to funding for owners of projects and micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, through launching commercial programs and products that meet their needs, as well as reviewing and facilitating the conditions to access funding.
The participants also noted the role of the micro-credit sector in financial inclusion and provision of funds for owners of informal sector enterprises and micro enterprises, and the need for a comprehensive program to improve its performance. They also underlined the importance of non-financial support to owners of projects, micro, small enterprises and start-ups, urging the various actors in the entrepreneurial system to double their efforts at the national and regional levels and to develop a comprehensive and integrated vision in this respect.
On a final note, the participants stressed the need for further reflection on developing capital mechanisms and investment funds, in response to the characteristics and obligations of the targeted enterprises, namely export ones, and ones in temporary difficulty. They also called for easier access to information and data on public support mechanisms for young project owners and the different targeted enterprises.