Morocco has launched a new US$300 million risk-sharing initiative aimed at expanding access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in a move officials say will help close a persistent financing gap and strengthen private sector-led growth.
The programme, announced by Morocco’s financial institution Tamwilcom in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, will support lending to thousands of SMEs across key sectors, including agriculture, manufacturing, women-led enterprises and supply chain-linked firms.
The agreement was signed in Washington and formally highlighted at a ceremony attended by senior Moroccan and IFC officials, including Morocco’s Economy and Finance Minister Nadia Fettah and IFC Managing Director Makhtar Diop.
Under the deal, IFC and Tamwilcom will establish a MAD 2.74 billion (around US$300 million) risk-sharing facility, which will cover a portfolio of SME guarantees issued by Tamwilcom. The structure is designed to encourage commercial banks to extend more credit by reducing the perceived risk of lending to smaller businesses.
SMEs account for around 90% of enterprises in Morocco and are considered central to employment creation and regional development. However, officials estimate a financing gap of about $20.4 billion, driven less by a shortage of liquidity than by constraints in risk assessment and guarantee mechanisms within the banking system.
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“Moroccan entrepreneurs create jobs, strengthen value chains, and build the economic resilience of their communities,” said Ethiopis Tafara, IFC Vice President for Africa. He said the initiative would mobilise private capital toward underserved segments of the economy.
Tamwilcom, one of Africa’s oldest guarantee institutions, said the programme marks a strategic milestone in its efforts to modernise risk management and expand its development role. In 2025, the institution issued about $2.7 billion in guarantees, helping unlock nearly $4.7 billion in financing across more than 70,000 transactions.
The new facility is also expected to include advisory support from IFC to strengthen Tamwilcom’s operational frameworks, particularly in agriculture and supply chain finance. It will further integrate environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards into risk assessment practices.
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Tamwilcom chief executive Said Jabrani described the agreement as part of a broader reform agenda under the institution’s “Jossour 2030” strategy, which aims to improve efficiency in guarantee deployment and deepen private sector participation in SME financing.
Officials said the initiative is expected to have a multiplier effect by encouraging banks to expand lending portfolios to small businesses that typically face higher borrowing costs or limited access to credit.
The partnership comes as Morocco continues to position SMEs as a key pillar of its economic transformation strategy, alongside efforts to attract foreign investment, strengthen industrial capacity, and support job creation, particularly among youth and women entrepreneurs.
Development finance institutions such as IFC have increasingly turned to guarantee-based instruments in Africa as a way to unlock private capital, especially in economies where SMEs remain underserved despite strong growth potential.
Analysts say such risk-sharing models are becoming a key tool in addressing structural financing gaps across the continent, where access to credit remains one of the main constraints on business expansion.
The Morocco initiative is expected to serve as a test case for similar blended finance structures in other African markets seeking to scale up SME lending without significantly increasing public debt exposure.
