Highlights

The first financing package, worth €150 million, is designed to support the Kingdom of Morocco in its efforts to introduce compulsory health insurance and strengthen its healthcare system. It supports the reform of social protection under Law 09-21. It will help reduce inequalities in access to health care by supporting the inclusion of an additional 22 million people in the Compulsory Health Insurance scheme, with the aim of achieving universal health coverage. It will also support the strengthening of healthcare provision at the national level and via specific mechanisms (coordinated care pathways, e-health tools) in two regions of the Kingdom. A €4 million grant (about MAD 400 million) accompanies this loan, which will mobilize recognized French expertise to support the reform actors, via Expertise France (French public technical cooperation agency, AFD Group).

The second financing, amounting to 50 million euros, aims to reduce inequalities between women and men through the institutionalization and operationalization of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in the framework of the elaboration and implementation of the State budget. It is a continuation of a €100 million funding signed in 2019 and demonstrates the progress of this approach in Morocco, under the guidance of the Center of Excellence for Gender-Responsive Budgeting of the Ministry of Economy and Finance. GRB, of which Morocco is a pioneer country, aims to guide public policies and budgets so that they benefit citizens equally and contribute to the reduction of gender inequalities. This ambitious approach is jointly supported by AFD, the European Union and UN Women.