RABAT, May 8 (Xinhua) -- Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), one of Morocco's largest banking groups, and the African Development Bank (AfDB) signed Tuesday in Casablanca a 100 million U.S. dollars agreement to promote intra-african trade.
Under this agreement, BCP and AfDB will provide 100 million U.S. dollars as an issuance to accompany the Moroccan companies aiming to trade with other African nations.
Statistics from the Africa Union show that currently Africa trades far less within itself than it does with the rest of the world. Intra-Africa trade stands at about 16 percent of the total on the continent, compared with 19 percent intra-regional trade in Latin America, 51 percent in Asia, 54 percent in North America and 70 percent in Europe.
Kamal Mokdad, the head of the international service at BCP, said this insurance mechanism aims to support the growth of the Moroccan companies active in Africa and projects in key areas such as water, infrastructure and industry.
For his part, Mohamed El Azizi, the director of the bureau of AfDB in North Africa, said this deal is the first of its kind sealed by AfDB in Morocco, adding that it is in line with the bank's goal of strengthening intra-African trade and will support up to 700 million U.S. dollars of trade flows throughout Africa.
Morocco has one of the strongest financial institutions in Africa. Moroccan banks are operating in over 20 African countries and generating growing amount of their earnings from their foreign activity on the continent.