$100 million loan to support Public Administration Reform program in Morocco

Published July 4th, 2004 - 03:00 GMT

The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a US$100 million loan to support a Public Administration Reform program in Morocco. The objectives of this program are to support the Government of Morocco’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of public resource management - a key step for accelerated growth and poverty reduction.

The reform program aims to improve the efficiency of budget expenditure by deconcentrating expenditures and accountability, providing greater flexibility to regional administrations, and by introducing performance budgeting and auditing. The program will also reform civil service through enhancing efficiency and service quality; and improve the sustainability of fiscal accounts by controlling the size of the civil service payroll.

Over the years, the Moroccan administration’s outdated service delivery and its weight on the national budget have been a cause for concern for the Moroccan government. In the wake of the Free Trade Agreements signed with the European Union and more recently, with the United States, Morocco has embarked on a series of economic and social reforms, with the aim of bringing the Moroccan economy up to par with its partners. Transforming the public administration into a catalyst for development became a major goal for the country’s policy makers.

“Morocco needs to reinvent itself, update its old administrative traditions and bring its civil service from a budget-consuming, investment-repelling apparatus to a lean, pro-active and investment friendly organization” said Minister of Finance Oualalou.

Based on an agreed set of public administration reforms, the Bank will provide, over a period of four years, financial and technical resources to the Government of Morocco for capacity building and budget support. This operation will be the first in a series of annual programmatic loans supporting the implementation of the reform program. The proposed loan would complement and strengthen ongoing multi-year cooperation through which the Bank is providing the Government with advice, training and technical assistance as required in the areas of budgetary management and civil service.

By the time the project is completed, key constraints affecting the effectiveness of public service delivery is expected to be address, contributing to the key goals of private sector development and poverty reduction. By helping keep the wage bill under control, it will, help ensure macroeconomic stability and provide the practical budgetary framework necessary to implement the Government’s administrative decentralization orientation.

The Public Administration Reform Loan is a Libor-based Fixed Spread Loan (FSL) repayable in 20 years, including 5 years of grace period. (menareport.com)