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IMF likely to clear Morocco’s request for $5bn credit facility   

IMF likely to clear Morocco’s request for $5bn credit facility   
IMF offers this credit line to help countries with very strong policy frameworks and track records of economic performance to safeguard against external shocks. (Shuttestock)
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Updated 07 March 2023
ARAB NEWS 

IMF likely to clear Morocco’s request for $5bn credit facility   

IMF likely to clear Morocco’s request for $5bn credit facility   
Updated 07 March 2023
ARAB NEWS 

RIYADH: Morocco is expected to receive external credit support of $5 billion from the International Monetary Fund, thanks to its strong policy frameworks and track records of economic performance. 

The North African country intends to treat the credit line as a precautionary measure to fight against any risks arising due to the highly uncertain global environment. 

In an informal meeting of the Executive Board earlier this week, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said she intends to recommend approval of the two-year flexible credit line arrangement for Morocco when they will meet again to take a decision in the following weeks. 

IMF offers this credit line to help countries with very strong policy frameworks and track records of economic performance to safeguard against external shocks. 

Morocco's ability to access external borrowing comes after it managed to exclude itself from the enhanced monitoring process, known as the ‘gray list’, of the Financial Action Task Force. 

The FATF removed Morocco from the gray list during its general assembly last month, after assessing the compliance of the national system with international standards relating to the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. 

Back in 2012, Morocco obtained a preventions and liquidity line from the IMF at a value of $3 billion. It utilized the amount in 2020 to combat the repercussions of COVID-19. 

Moreover, last week Morocco collected as much as $2.5 billion in international bonds. The International Credit Corp. affirmed that it is “ready to continue supporting Morocco in facing the risks of the global economic environment characterized by uncertainty”.  

Morocco's 2023 budget allows the government to resort to internal borrowing of 69 billion Moroccan dirhams ($6.6 billion), an increase of 5.6 percent over 2022 figures, while the external borrowing ceiling jumped by more than 50 percent to 60 billion Moroccan dirhams.  

According to data from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, Morocco's budget deficit decreased at the end of last year to reach 5.1 percent of gross domestic product, compared to 5.5 percent in 2021 as the deficit amounted to 69.5 billion Moroccan dirhams, down 1.1 percent from the year before. 

Topics: IMF Morocco Credit facility

Global job-creation challenges remain but there is reason to be optimistic, experts tell FII Priority

Business leaders and former ministers during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative’s Priority conference
Business leaders and former ministers during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative’s Priority conference
Updated 8 sec ago
DANIEL FOUNTAIN

Global job-creation challenges remain but there is reason to be optimistic, experts tell FII Priority

Business leaders and former ministers during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative’s Priority conference
  • Experts at the event in Miami on Thursday said sectors such as financial technology, artificial intelligence, energy transition and healthcare will spearhead new employment opportunities
  • They said that more traditional jobs will remain important, too, but that it will be a matter of providing ‘good jobs’ rather than simply job creation for job creation’s sake
Updated 8 sec ago
DANIEL FOUNTAIN

MIAMI: There is reason to be optimistic about global job-creation efforts in the years ahead, business leaders and former ministers agreed during a panel discussion at the Future Investment Initiative’s Priority conference in Miami on Thursday.

Globally, 208 million people will be unemployed during 2023, according to UN agency the International Labour Organization. And as the working-age population increases, by 2035 an additional 470 million people will be looking for employment, the World Bank said recently.

Tyler Dickson, global co-head of banking, capital markets and advisory at Citi, said managing these numbers in the coming years will be a challenge, but he remained optimistic that sectors such as financial technology, artificial intelligence, energy transition and healthcare will be at the forefront of job creation.

Sven Otto Julius Littorin, a former employment minister from Sweden, agreed and added that it will be a matter of creating “good jobs,” rather than simply job creation for job creation’s sake.

“If we want to have an inclusive society, where people feel they are needed and part of building the future, we not only need to have jobs but we need to have good jobs, and jobs that are productive but also ‘meaningful’ jobs,” he said.

“Upskilling” and “reskilling” will be the driving force behind job creation, according to Gaston Taratuta, the CEO and founder of digital advertising company Aleph Group. He said that, moving forward, developing skills that are relevant as the global gross domestic product becomes increasingly digital-based will be key.

He added that in the future it will not be “what you know, but what you can do for me” that will set potential employees apart. People with skills in coding, cybersecurity, digital marketing and logistics will be the ones best serving the future global economy.

However, Josh Harris, executive vice-president of data analytics company Palantir Technologies, said jobs in traditional sectors will still be relevant in the future. He added that although employees will need to make themselves indispensable, employers will have to use technology to improve existing jobs rather than replace or make employees redundant.

Littorin agreed, saying that inclusive, lifelong learning and adapting to new technology will be important for the future workforce. Governments around the world have a key role to play in ensuring this is available for the entirety of their labor forces.

“Look at Saudi Arabia,” he said. “It has, in the last few years, liberated the female part of the workforce, basically doubling the size of that workforce, and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been created in (the Kingdom). It’s just amazing.”

Topics: FII Priority Conference FII Priority Employment Miami Saudi Arabia

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US-China divide may be defining issue of our time, CEO says

US-China divide may be defining issue of our time, CEO says
Updated 55 min 11 sec ago
Arab News

US-China divide may be defining issue of our time, CEO says

US-China divide may be defining issue of our time, CEO says
  • Chip Kaye of Warburg Pincus tells Miami conference that geopolitical frictions yet to stabilize, warns of ‘sticky’ inflation
  • Others say shift can offer opportunities for countries like Saudi Arabia 
Updated 55 min 11 sec ago
Arab News

MIAMI: Tensions between the US and China may be the “defining issue of our time” for business, a senior American CEO has said as the Future Investment Finance conference opened in Miami.

Chip Kaye, of private equity company Warburg Pincus, was discussing the dangers of increasingly fractured geopolitics with other business executives on a panel titled “Business in the new world order.” 

He said that everything from climate change to “very local issues… rely on some dimension of state capacity and some dimension of political discourse” to be solved.

“And that’s in short supply in an environment where two sides don’t understand each other at all. (The) US-China divide may be the defining issue of our time.”

Kaye said geopolitical frictions and cultural wars, not only between the US and China, were having far-reaching effects on economic stability.

“I think economic activity is all stronger than we think and the reality is, inflation is a little stickier than we think, and that we may live in a more elevated inflation environment for a longer stretch of time,” he said. “We’re at the very beginning of this adjustment, as opposed to the end.”

Speakers on the panel discussed the consequences of these adjustments on the global economy, and argued that despite the many obstacles it would not lead to the end of globalization.

“I don’t think globalization is dead,” said Jenny Johnson, CEO of investment company Franklin Templeton.

“It’s slowing down and there’s probably some themes that can inform some investments.”

Johnson pointed out how this shift could offer opportunities for investors, particularly for countries like Saudi Arabia that focus on “entrepreneurship, entrepreneurism, on education, where the government is supporting business.”

Speakers also said investors needed to focus more on micro-level problem-solving rather than trying to predict macro-level trends.

“I think macro should have humbled us all at this point,” said She Nyatta, founder of Bicycle Capital, a US-based growth equity investment firm.

“Trying to make big macro predictions over the last four years has been a complete fool’s errand.”

One way investors can support micro-level problem-solving was by investing in developing markets, which Nyatta said were fertile ground for innovation and problem-solving due to their lack of infrastructure and advanced technology.

“I think we need to look where problems are, and find ways to solve those problems at a micro level and those will turn into good businesses because a problem is being solved,” Nyatta said.

But “take risks. In an uncertain time don’t sit on your hands. Don’t wonder what’s going to happen. Take risks.”

Topics: FII Priority Conference FII Priority Miami US China

FII Priority: Global South wants a more balanced world order, says Prof. Mohan Munasinghe

Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, founder and chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development, at the FII Priority conference
Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, founder and chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development, at the FII Priority conference
Updated 30 March 2023
Zaira Lakhpatwala

FII Priority: Global South wants a more balanced world order, says Prof. Mohan Munasinghe

Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, founder and chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development, at the FII Priority conference
  • BRICS countries have overtaken the G7 countries in terms of their contribution to the global GDP
Updated 30 March 2023
Zaira Lakhpatwala

MIAMI: Countries in the Global South are increasingly asserting themselves and showing more independence, said Prof. Mohan Munasinghe, founder and chairman of the Munasinghe Institute of Development, at the FII Priority conference on Thursday.

“One of the important reasons is that there is a realization that 85 percent of the global population lies in these countries and only 15 percent in the so-called West,” he said.

BRICS countries — referring to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — in particular, have overtaken the G7 countries in terms of their contribution to the global gross domestic product.

As the BRICS countries expand with the potential addition of Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Indonesia and Bangladesh, the Global South is looking at a new world order, as opposed to the existing order, which has been more or less shaped by Western countries since the Second World War, said Munasinghe.

The new priorities for countries in the Global South are “sustainability, economic development, raising the poor out of poverty,” and they are “less interested in military interventions or economic sanctions — those kinds of confrontational approaches,” he added.

Munasinghe strongly recommended integrating climate change into the sustainable development strategy for these countries.

“There is a way to balance what I call the ‘sustainable development triangle’,” which calls for economic growth to improve poverty while protecting the environment, and the “social and cultural matrix,” he said.

These countries “are a little tired of 500 or more years of colonial interventions” and they still remember the aggressive interventions from the West, he pointed out.

As it gains more power, fueled by the emergence of BRICS countries, the Global South has more hope, signaling a shift away from the Western-led unipolar world order to a more balanced, multipolar world.

Now, with digital technologies and “other new methods,” there are more opportunities for these countries that will allow them to have a “level playing field” and have their “dignity and self-respect restored,” said Munasinghe.

Topics: FII Priority Conference FII Priority Miami Global South

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Give youth tools to overcome cost-of-living crisis, Saudi envoy to US tells FII Priority conference

Give youth tools to overcome cost-of-living crisis, Saudi envoy to US tells FII Priority conference

Give youth tools to overcome cost-of-living crisis, Saudi envoy to US tells FII Priority conference
Updated 30 March 2023
DANIEL FOUNTAIN

Give youth tools to overcome cost-of-living crisis, Saudi envoy to US tells FII Priority conference

Give youth tools to overcome cost-of-living crisis, Saudi envoy to US tells FII Priority conference
  • Princess Reema bint Bandar said that ‘having financial literacy and financial engagement at a younger age will allow us all to be more efficient citizens’
  • She highlighted the success of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 national development project in engaging the Kingdom’s youth and the speed with which new opportunities have been created
Updated 30 March 2023
DANIEL FOUNTAIN

MIAMI: Equipping the youth of the world with financial literacy and opportunities is vital if they are to overcome the growing cost-of-living crisis, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the US told the Future Investment Initiative’s Priority conference in Miami on Thursday.

Princess Reema bint Bandar was speaking during a panel discussion of what the UN has described as the “largest cost-of-living crisis of the 21st century,” and its disproportionate effects on young people around the globe, who are on the front lines of the crisis.

She said there certainly needs to be more personal accountability and understanding of what is needed at an individual level, but also at the national and international levels.

“We have all been overspending, overbuying and overconsuming and this ‘click button, immediate delivery’ has skewed our perception of what our personal costs are, personal needs and our engagement,” she said. “I think we have been thinking too macro; let’s go back to micro and have little bit more personal responsibility.

“I think (understanding) the concept of interconnectivity of our behavior and our actions, and having financial literacy and financial engagement at a younger age, will allow us all to be more efficient citizens, regardless of whether it’s in the Kingdom, the Middle East or the West.

“I think we’ve lost the concept of our personal impact on economies and other people’s lives,” she added.

The ambassador highlighted the success of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 national development project in engaging the Kingdom’s youth and the speed with which new opportunities have been created outside of the traditional governmental and public sector.

Five years ago in Saudi Arabia, she said, very few young people had any desire to step outside the “comfort zone” of the government sector; now, 58 percent of young people aspire to entrepreneurship pathways, confident that a system is in place in the Kingdom to support them.

“The reason you’re seeing success among young people, not just entering the government but also the private sector, is because today every single young person knows their role in this vision of evolving our country,” she said.

“It is creating opportunity for the individual to be part of the collective and recognize that every piece or step of work or ambition they have adds to the collective well-being of everybody else. That is what’s really driving us as a nation.

“We’ve been able to create education pathways; over $100 million has been spent not just on traditional education but expanding the pipelines of opportunity for young people in (sectors such as) hospitality, tourism and sport,” Princess Reema added.

She also refuted criticism from outside the Kingdom of investment and job creation in these sectors being “culture-washing” or “sport-washing” by pointing out it had created 3 million jobs so that young people can earn a decent living and wage, which could “help them uplift not just themselves but their households and their families and create opportunities for others.”

She said she feels the Saudi approach in this regard is what is “inspiring about being in the Kingdom today,” adding: “We have a moment to inspire young people to not just take, but to also give.”

On the growing engagement of young Saudi women in the process, she said: “You cannot create an opportunity for one gender and not the other, and that’s something we’ve been able to accomplish through Vision 2030.”

Topics: FII Priority Conference FII Priority Saudi Arabia Saudi Vision 2030 Princess Reema bint Bandar Miami

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Saudi Arabia, Miami offering development blueprint for rest of the world: FII Priority panel

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Saudi Arabia, Miami offering development blueprint for rest of the world: FII Priority panel

Saudi Arabia, Miami offering development blueprint for rest of the world: FII Priority panel
  • FII Chairman and Saudi Public Investment Fund Gov. Yasir Al-Rumayyan joined Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to discuss how humanity can get through the challenges of a post-COVID world
  • Al-Rumayyan said progress could be achieved anywhere in the world by running full diagnostic of economy and society
Updated 30 March 2023
DANIEL FOUNTAIN

MIAMI: Economic and social reforms being carried out on a national level in Saudi Arabia and on a city level in Miami offer a model for progress and development for the rest of the world, the FII Priority conference heard on Thursday.

FII Chairman and Saudi Public Investment Fund Gov. Yasir Al-Rumayyan joined Miami Mayor Francis Suarez to discuss how humanity can get through the challenges of a post-COVID world, marked by the war in Ukraine, potential economic crises across the world, catastrophic weather events and soaring costs of living.

Since his election as mayor, Suarez said he had transformed Miami’s economy through lower taxation, investment in public security and enticing the future technology industry to the city, telling the conference that parallels could be drawn with Saudi Arabia’s transformation through its Vision 2030 plan.

Al-Rumayyan agreed, adding that progress could be achieved anywhere in the world by running a full diagnostic of an economy and society, as happened in the Kingdom with the launch of its Vision 2030 plan, by setting benchmarks, targets and key performance indicators.

“(The plan) is very challenging, but achievable,” he said. “You need the political will, the right processes and the right people. That’s what has made it work so well, so far, and hopefully we will achieve all of our targets by 2030,” he added.

Al-Rumayyan highlighted progress already made ahead of schedule in certain metrics across the Kingdom, including having 37 percent female employment by 2020, 7 percent more than initially expected, as well as Saudi Arabia’s 8.7 percent gross domestic product growth in 2022, which was 1.2 percent more than predicted by the IMF, making the Kingdom’s economy the fastest growing in the G20.

This week, with nationwide unemployment falling below 9 percent in Saudi Arabia for the first time, Al-Rumayyan was also keen to stress that Vision 2030 does not set out simply to create jobs, but to create “good quality” jobs, which is key for engaging an ever-youthful workforce.

Calling PIF the “enabler of Vision 2030,” Al-Rumayyan added that a healthy investment portfolio such as the Kingdom’s was key to sustainable progress and development; he highlighted its assets are worth $650 billion today, but it plans to expand this to $1 trillion by 2025 and to between $2-$3 trillion by 2030.

As chairman of Saudi Aramco, Al-Rumayyan outlined the company’s green energy ambitions and its low-emission credentials, but warned that the approach of some countries toward fossil fuels threatened the likelihood of achieving real development as a result of chasing unrealistic clean energy goals.

“Oil, gas and fossil fuels is not such a bad thing,” he said. “I could talk for days about why we should really invest in exploration. We should have long-term views and not (follow) a certain ideal or ideology without thinking about the consequences of that,” he added.

Completely dropping fossil fuels is not a practical solution for global development and progress, Al-Rumayyan told the panel, adding that the shift from traditional to renewable sources of energy would be a slow process, especially considering that much of the net zero infrastructure still requires petrochemicals and fossil fuels to produce.

The PIF governor said: “Some of the governments around the world bullied the oil and gas companies (because of the climate mission) and instead of looking at the problem and trying to fix it, they just wanted to stop it, and what happened after that?

“It started with the oil crisis, because you have less exploration, less supply and demand is increasing, because we want to change to renewable. I understand that, but it takes time to have a transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

“Are we making things better, or worse? From two sides, first, (damage to) the environment and secondly the affordability of energy for the world’s people, and that’s the problem we are facing now,” he added.

Topics: FII Priority Conference FII Priority Miami US Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) Yasir Al-Rumayyan

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