![]() | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has a history of granting conditional loans to Morocco. This article describes the relationship between Morocco and the IMF since it joined in 1958. The IMF has typically worked to promote liberalization of the Moroccan economy and to maintain the stability and liquidity of finances in both the public and private sectors.
Morocco joined the IMF on April 15, 1958. [1] Morocco's Special Drawing Rights (SDR) currently stand at 542.36 million. Their quota holdings are currently worth 894 SDR million. 85.53% of those are part of the IMF's Holdings of Currency or in other words 747.13 SDR millions while the remaining 16.47% is the Reserve Tranche Position or 147.35 SDR millions. As of December 2019, Morocco and the IMF have had 20 arrangements since the country joined the organization (IMF, 2019). Nonetheless, the only specific IMF programs that have ever been put in place in Morocco are the annual Article IV consultations. [2] Moreover, Morocco has no outstanding purchases and loans. Finally, it is in the same constituency as Afghanistan, Algeria, Ghana, Iran, Libya, Pakistan and Tunisia. The executive director of this group is Jafar Mojarrad. [3]
The main goals of the IMF's engagement with Morocco are centered around increasing economic growth through improving economic governance by among other things making budget processes more transparent and strengthening fiscal institutions. More specifically, the issues that the IMF is concerned with in regards to the Moroccan economy are excessively high unemployment rates in the population, issues stemming from political conflicts in the region and risks linked to fragility of the euro in light of the strong dependency of the dirham on the euro. All an all, like its other North African counterparts, all of these targets are centered around one rationale shared by most which according to Hanieh is to shape such developing countries "in the image of neoliberalism, rendering North Africa’s uprisings within a discourse amenable to the deepening of pro-market policies". [2]
The most recent deal between the IMF and Morocco is the Precautionary and Liquidity Line Arrangement. It was approved in December 2018 and concluded in May 13th 2019 for a time period of two years. The arrangement is worth an amount of SDR 2.15 billion. This is worth 240% of the quota currently held by Morocco. The deal works a security line on which Morocco can draw on in times of need. These types of agreements provided by the IMF are more specifically designed "in the event of a severe balance of payment crisis caused by deterioration in the international economic situation". [2] The conditions of the agreement involve several reforms in various sectors including fiscal and monetary policy that authorities are obliged to implement. According to the report published by the IMF, the Moroccan government has been fairly successful at doing so. A similar agreement had previously been approved between the IMF and Morocco in August 2012 for a value of $6.2 billion.
On the one side, economic growth has slightly weakened since 2018. This is mainly due to lower agricultural growth and slow growth in the tertiary sector. The position of Morocco on the international market has also worsened as the current account deficit has grown. On the other, economic health in many other aspects in Morocco has improved fairly well in the past few years. Macroeconomic vulnerabilities have gone down, inflation and public debt is declining while government revenues, FDI and exports in two of the main export sectors of the Moroccan economy, phosphate and automobile, [4] have risen.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world." Formed in 1944, started on 27 December 1945, at the Bretton Woods Conference primarily by the ideas of Harry Dexter White and John Maynard Keynes, it came into formal existence in 1945 with 29 member countries and the goal of reconstructing the international monetary system. It now plays a central role in the management of balance of payments difficulties and international financial crises. Countries contribute funds to a pool through a quota system from which countries experiencing balance of payments problems can borrow money. As of 2016, the fund had XDR 477 billion. The IMF is regarded as the global lender of last resort.
The economy of Morocco is considered a relatively liberal economy, governed by the law of supply and demand. Since 1993, Morocco has followed a policy of privatization of certain economic sectors which used to be in the hands of the government. Morocco has become a major player in African economic affairs, and is the 5th largest African economy by GDP (PPP). The World Economic Forum placed Morocco as the 1st most competitive economy in North Africa, in its African Competitiveness Report 2014–2015.
Special drawing rights are supplementary foreign exchange reserve assets defined and maintained by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). SDRs are units of account for the IMF, and not a currency per se. They represent a claim to currency held by IMF member countries for which they may be exchanged. SDRs were created in 1969 to supplement a shortfall of preferred foreign exchange reserve assets, namely gold and U.S. dollars. The ISO 4217 currency code for special drawing rights is XDR and the numeric code is 960.
In 1945, China cofounded the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with 34 other nations. China was initially represented by the Republic of China. In April 1980, representation transferred to the People's Republic of China. The Chinese-IMF relationship mainly operates around affairs associated with IMF governance and the IMF Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
Tanzania is a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) with a current quota of US$551.35 million, and is a part of the South Africa and Nigeria led constituency with a totaling voting share of 2.97%. The IMF has been involved in Tanzania's economy since the 1970s. Over the years, there have been roughly three stages of the IMF's involvement in Tanzania: the first round of reform lasted from 1986 to 1995, the second round of reform lasted from 1996 to 2006, and the third round focused mainly on consolidating the reforms made from previous stages.
El Salvador has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1946. Their quota currently consists of 287.20 million SDR. The country has received loans from the IMF in the past, but most recently has received only standby loans and currently has no outstanding payments. As of June 2017, the standby arrangements total 1,442,300 SDR while the government has only drawn upon 132,250 SDR.
Vietnam joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on September 21, 1956, under the policy of Article VIII. Their quota contributes an estimated SDR of 1,153 millions and voting power of 0.24%. As of August 2016, the current IMF Resident Representative to Vietnam is Jonathan Dunn.
Iceland joined the International Monetary Fund on Dec 27th 1945, becoming one of the IMF's founding members. As a part of the IMF, Iceland has rights in accordance with its contributions, borrowing rights which help facilitate the stability of global financial markets. Iceland's quota is 321.8 million SDR, and its Special Drawing Rights are 112 million. This is a relatively small quota and its vote share comprises only 0.09% of all IMF vote shares, or 4,683 votes to be exact.
Portugal joined International Monetary Fund (IMF) on March 29, 1961. They joined by submitting 100 percent of their quota, which is 2,060.10 SDR. Currently, Portugal is using 187.5 percent of their quota, which is 3,862.69 SDR. Portugal has not had an IMF disbursement since 2014. Portugal has just .44 percent of voting power in the IMF.
Poland was one of the founding members of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 1945. Under pressure from the Soviet Union, the country withdrew in 1950, believing that the organization had become a tool for the United States. Poland rejoined the IMF in 1986, following the end of martial law in Poland (1981–1983) and the withdrawal of the US veto against Polish membership.
South Korea and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) partner to assist the country in managing its financial system. Korea's economy is considered fundamentally sound because of the balance of their banking sector and their aim toward a zero structural balance without compromising their ability to sustain debt. The IMF Board in 2019 assessed that the policy framework and financial system in place are sturdy and firmly set.
Greece is one of the original members of the International Monetary Fund, joining it on December 27, 1945. It has a quota of 2,428.90 million SDRs and 25,754 votes, 0.51% of the total IMF quota and votes. Greece has been represented on the IMF Board of Governors by Minister of Finance Christos Staikouras since 2019. Greece elects an Executive Director on the fund's Executive Board with Albania, Italy, Malta, Portugal and San Marino. Michail Psalidopoulos is the elected alternate director. Greece has signed two loan agreements with the IMF: a Stand-By Arrangement from 2010 to 2012 and an agreement under the Extended Fund Facility from 2012 to 2016, borrowing a total of 27,766.3 million SDR. Greece owes the IMF 6,735.64 million SDR, and is the fund's third-largest borrower. In 2018, the fund began conducting annual post-program monitoring of Greece in addition to its annual Article IV consultation.
Bosnia and Herzegovina declared independence from the state formerly known as Yugoslavia in 1992 and joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on December 14, 1992. Bosnia and Herzegovina officially succeeded to the IMF membership of the former Yugoslavia on December 20, 1995, thereby giving the country access to the quota, as well as outstanding loans and payments, on behalf of Yugoslavia. Bosnia and Herzogovina, often synecdochically referred to as Bosnia, currently has an IMF quota of 265.20 million SDR. Bosnia is part of the constituency that contains primarily Eastern European countries but is led by the Netherlands and Belgium. Bosnia controls 4,117 votes of the constituencies 273,058 total votes, and the constituency overall accounts for 5.43% of the IMF's total votes. Since Bosnia joined the IMF in 1992, the country has utilized five borrowing arrangements, four of which were under the Stand-By Arrangements (SBA) and one of which was under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF). The first of the five arrangements was enacted in May 1998 and the most recent was enacted in September 2016. As of September 2019, Bosnia has 126.82 million SDR outstanding loans and/or purchases from the IMF.
Cambodia officially joined the IMF on December 31, 1969. After years of internal and external strife, the Cambodian government is currently focusing its attention to rebuilding and renovating the national economy through grants and loans from multilateral sources like the International Monetary Fund. In March 1994, the International Committee for the Reconstruction of Cambodia (ICORC) developed a comprehensive plan in effort to support Washington Consensus policy prescriptions. These reforms aimed to shift the economy from a socialist state-controlled economy towards a capitalistic market-controlled one. Since then they've had a total of two arrangements addressing fiscal management. Directors approved a loan for SDR 28.0 million in support of Cambodia's 1995-96 macroeconomic and structural reformations. In 1997 domestic political uncertainty following an alleged coup d’état halted IMF disbursements but resumed again in 1998 after the formation of a new government. Since the 1990s there have been no active IMF loans, but Cambodian and IMF relations continue through Technical Assistant strategies and yearly Article IV reports.
With the world’s largest production of cacao and cashew nuts, Ivory Coast is one of the leading economic powers in West Africa. It joined the IMF in 1963. Since then, Ivory Coast participated in 14 arrangements and purchased more than 1016 millions in procurement and loans. It now possesses 650.4 million SDR of quotas.
The island nation of Grenada is the smallest country in the Western Hemisphere. A sovereign state that is located in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea towards the southern end of the Grenadine island chain, the nation is composed of the island Grenada along with six smaller islands that lie north of it. Grenada is known as the "Isle of Spice" for its production of nutmeg and mace crops, for which it is one of the world's largest exporters and contributes vastly to the country's GDP. Grenada is a developing country that relies heavily on the support of other nations and organizations to finance many of its government projects. One of Grenada's partners is the International Monetary Fund.
Iran and the International Monetary Fund have been in partnership since 1945. Iran has gone to the IMF on only two occasions, both before the 1979 revolution of Iran.
Iraq was one of the original members of the IMF, joining the IMF on December 27, 1945. Iraq provided $1663.89 million SDR, Special Drawing Rights, to the IMF, which is 0.35% of total SDR paid to the IMF. It also has 18,103 votes, which is 0.36% of the total votes distributed to the member countries of the IMF. The current Board of Governor of Iraq is Ali Muhsin Ismail with an alternative Board of Governor, Khaled Salah Alddin Mohammed Murad. Iraq is the part of the constituency with other countries such as Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Maldives, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Republic of Yemen. This constituency has 127,164 votes, 2.53% of total votes in the IMF. Since first joined, Iraq faced 4 official arrangements from the IMF: first arrangement on December 23, 2005, and the latest arrangement on July 7, 2016.
Serbia has been a member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since December 14, 2022 with a quota of Special Drawing Rights (SDR) 654.8 million and 8,0007 votes. Serbia is currently represented on the Executive Board by Piotr Trabinski in a constituency with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Poland, Serbia, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan that holds 2.88% of the total vote share.