MARRAKESH, Morocco (AP) – Less than two hours’ drive from where families sleep in tents and earthquake debris piles up, the world’s most influential financial institutions are converging on war, We are conducting a week-long discussion about inequality and economic challenges in an era of inequality. climate change.
In 2018, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank decided to hold their annual meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, marking the first time in 50 years that the meeting will be held on the African continent.
The original schedule was delayed due to the pandemic, but the meeting, which begins Monday, arrived in good time. After last month’s devastating earthquake killed nearly 3,000 people and caused $11.7 billion in damage, authorities and civil society groups are debating how to promote economic resilience in light of natural disasters. are eagerly awaiting.
“Nowhere is the need for international cooperation more evident than in addressing the existential threat of climate change. The world has a responsibility to stand alongside vulnerable countries as they deal with shocks they do not cause.” Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in a speech on Thursday.
The IMF and World Bank, often the lenders of last resort, dole out billions of dollars in loans and aid to reinvigorate struggling economies and encourage deficit countries to implement reforms they say will promote stability and growth. is used.
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Iskander Elgini Vernois, director of the Morocco-based Imar Climate Development Initiative, said: “We are currently facing multiple crises. Arab and African countries in particular are facing various exogenous shocks that are not their fault.” “We are being hit by this,” he said. “Developing countries have huge funding gaps in the trillions of dollars, and there are also important questions about how affordable they can be.”
Those shocks include the pandemic and rising energy and food costs caused by the war in Ukraine. These challenges are particularly acute in Africa, where many countries spend more on debt than on health and education combined. Critics argue that the terms of many of the loans offered force governments from Egypt to Zambia to choose between paying their debts or implementing unpopular spending cuts.
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the IMF approved a $1.3 billion loan to help Morocco “strengthen its preparedness and resilience against natural disasters.” Morocco is a long-time borrower and has used loans and credit to weather economic downturns, including recently during the pandemic. The agency urges Morocco to balance its budget and continue raising interest rates.
In mountain villages far from the city’s luxury hotels, mid-rise apartments and billboards advertising new construction, roads remain unpaved, water is scarce and jobs are difficult to find. Residents say the quake has exacerbated the disparities plaguing rural areas and exacerbated the struggles faced by already impoverished communities.
Signs of the country’s rapid economic development will be on display in Marrakech, where roads have been washed away and landmarks damaged.
But Brahim Ait Brahim, a laid-off miner who lives in the mountain village of Anerni, near the quake’s epicenter, is still struggling with urgent financial needs a month after the quake destroyed his home. and said they are waiting for housing assistance.
“That’s Marrakech. It’s the capital of tourism,” said Ait Brahim, describing it as the face of Morocco. “I’m hiding here.”
Associated Press writer Paul Wiseman in Washington and Yassin Urhik in Anerni, Morocco contributed to this report.
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