Announcement of Fifteen Million US Dollars Loan for Tourist Hotels in Morocco on July 3, 1971

INTE·RNATIO.NAL BANt{ FOR .RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 181.8 H STRl;:ET, N.W., WAS:·ollNGTON 0. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 72/49 Subject: $1S.O million loan for tourist July 3, 1972 hotels in Morocco A second World Bank loan of $15.0 million will assist in financing construction, expansion and modernization of tourist hotels in Morocco. Tourism. now Morocco's leading source of foreign exchange earnillss, has been given high priority in the Govemment 's economic development plan. More hotel space is a prime requisite for this rapidly growing and important sector, and the Bank loan will provide most of the foreign exchange needed for financing imports required by productive tourism enterprises over the next 18 months. The loan will be made to Credit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH), the instrument of the Moroccan Govemment for financing hotels, and will be guaranteed by the Y"1ngdom of Morocco. It will be repayable in conformity with • the aggregate of the amortization, with interest at 7~ and commitment charges of 3/ 4 of 1% on the principal amount of loan not ri th drawn. ~brocco has m'a,rty attractive beaches on both the Atlantic and the Mediter- ranean. It also has ,a great variety of scenery inland, from fertile coastal regions with historlc 'cities, to the Atlas mountains and the Sahara desert. Rising o,.icupancy rates show that demand for accommodation is outpaciag hotel capacity, which was 19,000 beds at the beginning of the 1968-72 develop- ment plan, had risen to 35,700 beds at the e11d of 1971 and is expected to be 40,000 by the end of this year. The first loan made directly by the Bank to CIH amott!lting to $10 million was signed on August 12, 1970. In recent years, c.;H has assumed a significant role in the growth of tourism in Morocco. From the beginning of its hotel financing activities, CIR has signed :,44 loans with 123 hotel enterprises. Between 1968 and 1971, about 1800 housing lo~s 'for new units of accommodation were approved, most of them in the medium price range. CJ~B' a hotel financing commitments ar.e expected to rise from about $21. 4 mil- • lion in 19 72 to about $26. 8 million in 19 76. foreign exchange require111ents .for hotel loans are forecast at $23 million. Bank loan of $1S .o lllillion will cover these requirements for about 18 months. - 0 - For the next two years , CIH' s The