The active portfolio of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Morocco has totaled 35 operations for about 3 billion US dollars at the end of September, making the Kingdom the top client of the Bank. These commitments are distributed among the sectors of energy (31.5%), transport (19.8%), water and sanitation (15.5%), and multi-sectoral and social development operations (12.7%), in addition to the private sector (11.2%) and agriculture (9.4%), according to the latest Synthetic Review of the Bank's results, unveiled Thursday in Rabat. On a scale of 1 to 4, the performance of the Bank's portfolio in Morocco is very satisfactory, having progressed from 2.6 in 2009 to 3.7 in 2018 in the absence of risky projects, said Rudolphe Petras, Senior Results Specialist at AfDB, who presented the Review. The disbursement rate evolved from 36% in 2009 to 64% in 2018, while the amount of annual approvals increased from 607 million euros in 2009 to 733 million euros in 2018, Petras added. The official, who highlighted the progress made by Morocco over 2009-2018 and how the Bank contributed to it, said that 16 million people had better access to transport infrastructure and 6.9 million people benefited from a new electrical connection. Nearly 8.5 million people, including 4.5 million women, had access to better health services, while 3.5 million people, over half of them are women, benefited from improved access to drinking water and sanitation, said Petras. The review underlined the significant progress made by Morocco in the areas of governance, business climate improvement and gender equality, in addition to the Kingdom's leadership position in Africa in renewable energy and the fight against climate change.
