The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are teaming up to provide a Eur35 million loan to support energy efficiency and renewable investments in Morocco.
The three financial institutions, with the support of the European Union Neighbourhood Investment Facility (EU NIF) are providing the financing facility to Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP).
The finance line is the fourth under the Morocco Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MorSEFF), a comprehensive programme for sustainable energy investments through financial institutions, EBRD said in a statement.
This EBRD-led facility is dedicated to financing energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy investments. BCP will on-lend to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and corporates in the commercial and industrial sectors, including commercial construction and energy service companies.
In addition, technical assistance and investment incentives, funded by the EU NIF and by the EBRD Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) Multi-Donor Fund, will provide support to BCP in the design of business development tools and the successful implementation of the facility. Donors to the SEMED Multi-Donor Fund include: Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Taipei China and the United Kingdom.
“Boosting the MorSEFF finance line by €35 million marks a new phase in support for the energy transformation process involving SMEs in Morocco” commented Soumia Alami Ouali, deputy general manager for SMEs of BCP’s retail bank.
“The technical assistance provided by the European Union provides significant added value as part of this support mechanism.” “The framework also enables companies to enjoy favourable terms granted by the Banque Populaire Group for the various types of financing that can improve their competitiveness and help them develop new activities” he added.
Morocco became an EBRD country of operations in 2012 and to date the Bank has committed over €1 billion in 28 projects across the country in various sectors of the economy, including trade facilitation credit lines with local banks, EBRD said.