Credit de Maroc finances farmers with 250 million dirhams in partnership with IFC

Crédit du Maroc signed a partnership agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private financing arm of the World Bank Group, to launch the Risk Sharing Facility to support the financing of small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises and peasants in rural areas of Morocco. Under the agreement, IFC grants a guarantee of up to 125 million dirhams (about $13.5 million), which allows Credit du Maroc to expand its loan portfolio to the agricultural sector to the tune of 250 million dirhams (about $27 million), with IFC covering 50 percent of the risk associated with these loans. Risk sharing mechanism and counselling services The partnership is not limited to financial guarantee, as IFC will also provide advisory services to Credit du Maroc with the aim of strengthening its institutional capacities in the field of agricultural finance, including the development of risk assessment tools for small enterprises operating in the agricultural sector, which often find it difficult to access traditional bank financing due to the nature of their seasonal activity and the associated climate risks. Why this agreement matters The agreement comes in the context of broader Moroccan efforts to modernize the agricultural sector and improve the access of small actors to financing, similar to the $807 million program for the transformation of agricultural systems in Morocco IFC emphasizes that the initiative falls within national priorities related to food security, rural development and climate change adaptation, by strengthening the resilience of agricultural supply chains. It is expected that the expansion of the loan portfolio will give a greater margin for small agricultural contractors to finance their equipment and production requirements, at a time when the problem of access to finance remains one of the most prominent obstacles to the development of small and medium agriculture in Morocco.