Rabat, May 25, 2010 – Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Economy and Finance and Mrs. Françoise Clottes, Acting Director of the World Bank Maghreb Department, signed today, in Rabat, a US$100 million loan to support the Moroccan government’s efforts to strenghten the effectiveness and management of public resources. This loan is the second in a series of loans under the Government’s public administration reform support program (PARAP) to promote and support the public administration’s reform program.
The advances made by Morocco in the reform of public administration, supported by this series of loans, produced important results in several fields. As an example, budgetary reforms have contributed to a better implementation of social and economic investment projects As well as enable a better resource allocation toward strategic invesntments.
During the signing ceremony, Mrs. Clottes declared: "I would like to reaffirm our commitment to support the Moroccan authorities through the implementation of this reform program. We are confident that it will not only have a positive impact on the Moroccan economy and on the quality of services provided to citizens, but it will also set a very useful example for countries committing to the same track."
This loan will be complemented by a series of economic and sectoral studies in management of public finance, human resources and electronic administration.
Brief
· This Loan is the fourth in a series of programmatic loans intended to support the implementation of the Government’s public administration reform support program (PARAP) aimed at enhancing the effectiveness, transparency and accountability of public administration.
· This Loan for Public Administration Reform (PARAP IV) supports the global objectives of reform, through:
o Improving the effectiveness of the management of budget resources through greater transparency and accoutability requirements, as well as through the introduction of performance measurement,
o Improving the management of human resources, through the preparation of a new hiring and compensation policies management system, completed with performance measurement, together with the upgrading of the current human resource management system,
o Enhanced consolidation and control of the public sector wage bill, and
o Improving public service provision quality and streamlining public procedures through knowledge-based government (e-government).
· Morocco launched its Public Administration Reform Program at the beginning of 2002. On the 1st of July 2004, a first loan intended for the development of public administration, was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Directors, and has since then been used to strengthen the efforts of Morocco as part of its Medium-Term Reform Program, jointly with the European Union (EU) and the African Development Bank (ADB).
· The Fourth Public Administration Reform Loan IV (PARL IV) is also a fundamental component of the new 2010-2013 Strategic Partnership Framework (CPS), approved by the Board of Directors of the World Bank on 26 January. The latter contributes to the implementation of the first two pillars of the CPS :
(i) Promoting macroeconomic stabilityand private sector development, as an engine of growth, and
(ii) Promoting access to and improvement of the quality of services.
Furthermore, it fits one of the main cross cutting themes of the CPS, that is to say enhancing governance.
