Moroccan official media reported that the International Monetary Fund would grant the country a loan worth $1.3 billion.
The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and Morocco announced on Monday that the annual meetings of the two international institutions will take place next October in Marrakesh, despite a recent earthquake that occurred nearby, killing more than 2,900 people.
Bank President Ajay Banga, International Monetary Fund Director Kristalina Georgieva, and Moroccan Economy Minister Nadia Fattah Alaoui said in a joint statement that the meetings will take place from the ninth to the fifteenth of October in Marrakesh, which is only 72 kilometers from the site of the earthquake, which had a magnitude of 6.8. degree on September 8, with some changes made to adapt “to the circumstances.”
Senior officials of the Fund and the Bank took this decision, which Reuters was the first to report, after a direct request from the Moroccan authorities, who pressured the two global institutions to go ahead with the meetings that are expected to attract between ten thousand and 15 thousand people to the Moroccan tourist city.