"The Kingdom is very close to a very large market, that of the European Union. It has very good products, either in the manufacturing or agricultural sector, which can use this revival to capture additional markets as well," Hentschel stressed during a virtual meeting with the press, dedicated to the presentation of the post-Covid phase and the support offered by the WB to Morocco.
Highlighting the "enormous and fantastic natural capital" that the Kingdom has at its disposal, the official of the financial institution noted, moreover, that the revival will also be an opportunity to rethink national tourism so that it becomes "a green and ecological sector".
"It's a different recovery. It's everyone's at the same time and with big changes. Trade flows are going to be different and value chains have to restructure," he argued, noting that all this gives very important opportunities, especially for Morocco.
In addition, Hentschel praised the Kingdom's rapid response to Covid-19 since the registration of the first case of contamination at the beginning of March, notably with the creation of the special Fund for the management of the pandemic, as well as the various actions, whether at the health, social or economic level.
On the side of the World Bank, "we have supported the Kingdom's response and backed its various actions since the beginning of the crisis," he stressed, recalling, in this sense, the restructuring of the WB's 275 million dollar loan, signed to support development policies for disaster risk management, and which includes an objective relating to health aid to enable the immediate release of funds under the program and to respond to emergency measures, as well as the loan approved on 16 June to support the public authorities' health response, in particular by increasing diagnostic capacity and monitoring the epidemiological situation.
He recalled that on Monday, the Bank's Board of Executive Directors also approved an additional $500 million program, which, according to him, is aimed at supporting the government's various actions to deal with the crisis and to prepare the economy and the country for recovery.