IFAD issues Bank Al Maghrib funds for rural development

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The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Bank Al Maghrib (Central Bank of Morocco) have announced a €100 million funding for rural development in the country.

IFAD has issued a bond, as a private placement, under its Sustainable Development Finance Framework to the Central Bank of Morocco. This is part of IFAD’s 2025 funding plan.

IFAD’s development projects globally focus on transforming rural areas to make them more productive, improving their livelihoods, food security and resilience of millions of rural people.

“We are delighted to partner for the first time with a Central Bank, and particularly with Bank Al Maghrib. The bank has an explicit 10 per cent target of Environmental Social and Governance investments and applies a Corporate Social Responsibility Policy that is aligned with IFAD’s values,” said Natalia Toschi, Head of Funding, IFAD.

“Morocco is one of IFAD’s founding Member States. In Morocco, IFAD has an active project portfolio of almost $400 million delivering impact and reaching more than 700,000 households,” she added.

IFAD projects enable small farming communities to improve their agricultural practices and access technologies, markets and value chains to increase their production and earn a decent income.

About 3 billion people live in the rural areas of developing countries. While producing half of the world’s food, small-scale farmers often live in poverty. Eighty percent of the world’s poorest people live in rural areas. Yet, investments in rural development and small-scale farming can bring significant economic, social, environmental returns, it said.

In Morocco, IFAD has worked extensively with farming cooperatives, grassroots and women’s organisations to develop new food value chains from production to transformation and commercialisation. Globally, IFAD also invests significantly to support small-scale farmers to adapt to climate change.