Morocco Chief Planner Warns on State Companies' Debt Spree
- State firms’ external debt to raise nation’s finance costs
- Their combined external debt now exceeds the government’s
A view of the Hassan II Mosque esplanade is seen in Casablanca, Morocco.
Photographer: Eeve Coulon/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The cost of financing Morocco’s economy will climb if state-run companies don’t rein in their external borrowing spree, the head of the country’s planning agency warned.
“Strict vigilance is in order today,” said Ahmed Lahlimi in written replies to emailed questions, “especially since the external debt of public companies has started to slightly surpass” the government’s. At their current rate of growth, state companies’ external debt will reach 17 percent of GDP in 2019, up from 10.4 percent in 2010, he said. That would be the highest on record, according to Finance Ministry data.