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Washington - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has lauded the Moroccan economy's good performance and "resilience" amid global economic turmoil.

This came during meetings in Washington with a Moroccan delegation, held on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the World Bank (WB) and the IMF (April 25-26).

Officials of the Fund said they remain confident of the Moroccan economy's potentials, voicing will to work with the kingdom in the fields where the IMF's involvement is deemed necessary.

The Moroccan delegation, led by the governor of Morocco's central bank (Bank Al Maghrib), Abdellatif Jouahri, held meetings mainly with the vice-president of the World Bank for the MENA region, Daniela Gressani, and IMF's mission chief, Mark Lewis.

During these meetings, WB officials expressed satisfaction at the results of co-operation with Morocco and the smooth running of preparations for the new strategic framework of partnership.

They also voiced the Bank's readiness to continue supporting Morocco with its reform and development process.

During this meeting, director of treasury and external finance at the Moroccan ministry of economy and finance, Zouhair Chorfi, presented the evolution of Morocco’s economy in 2008 and forecasts for 2009. He said the kingdom’s economy has shown resilience thanks to sectoral diversification of growth sources.

He noted that Morocco achieved a 5.4% economic growth, a budgetary surplus of about 0.4% of GDP for the second year successively, along a significant drop of 47.8% of GDP in public debts.

Regarding prospects for 2009, he said the economic growth is forecast to stand between 5 and 6%, while inflation is expected at 2.5%.

The delegation also participated in a series of other meetings.

In a statement distributed to the joint WB-IMF ministerial development committee, Moroccan Minister of Economy and Finance underlined the need to maintain trade openness and “resist to protectionist temptations that continue to exacerbate” following the global economic crisis.

Mezouar also stressed the importance of trade in growth, poverty reduction an achieving MDGs.

The minister, who is represented in this 79th session by Zouhair Chorfi, said the fulfillment by donor countries of commitments to reinforce public debts to development is a requisite for growth, the fight against poverty and pursuing MDGs.

The session examined the implications of the economic downturn on developing countries and the role of international financial institutions.