Morocco still eager to host IMF-World Bank meetings despite quake
The Moroccan government has expressed its eagerness to proceed with International Monetary Fund-World Bank annual meetings scheduled for October in Marrakech.
Reuters quoted sources familiar with the meeting planning to have said on Monday that “From the viewpoint of the Moroccan authorities, the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank will take place as scheduled: October 9-15, 2023. There is no change of plan as of now,”
This is despite Friday’s devastating earthquake in the country.
The IMF and World Bank declined to comment on Morocco’s position on the meetings, referring Reuters to a joint weekend statement with India, France, the European Union and the African Union that expressed condolences for the loss of life and damage and spoke of “our willingness to support Morocco in the best possible way,” including addressing urgent short-term financial needs.
Both institutions had said their immediate focus was on the initial response to the disaster.
The death toll from the 6.8 magnitude quake that struck in the High Atlas Mountains, 45 miles (72 kilometers) southwest of Marrakech reached nearly 2,900 on Monday, with over 2,500 injured.
The IMF and World Bank annual meetings are expected to draw well over 10,000 people to Marrakech, from the delegations of their 190 member states to media, non-profit and civil society groups, requiring elaborate security and travel arrangements.
The meetings in Marrakech were originally scheduled for 2021, but were postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The IMF and World Bank every three years hold their annual meetings in a developing economy that has shown strong economic policies and governance, to be held up as an example for other countries to follow, including Indonesia in 2018 and Peru in 2015.
In October 2018, the IMF and World Bank proceeded with their annual meetings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, with more than 11,000 participants, just two weeks after a 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami struck Sulawesi, killing more than 4,300 people.
The Indonesian island of Lombok, just east of Bali, had also suffered more than 500 deaths in a series of quakes in July and August 2018. Both disasters left tens of thousands of people homeless.
Then-IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde visited disaster recovery areas in Lombok, while Kristalina Georgieva, who was World Bank chief executive officer at the time and later succeeded Lagarde as the head of the IMF, visited devastated Palu in central Sulawesi.
At the time, Lagarde said: “Canceling the meetings was not an option because that would be a tremendous waste of the resources that had been committed over the last three years and lose the great opportunity to showcase Indonesia to the world and to create opportunities and jobs.”
Bloomberg had earlier reported that Moroccan officials were expecting the meetings to proceed.
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