With the world’s largest known reserves of phosphates, mineral resources have traditionally played an important role in the Moroccan economy. The authorities have established the country as a major exporter of the resource, and are now looking to diversify the sector towards other minerals. The government has implemented a series of initiatives aimed at attracting domestic and foreign investment…
By setting the right policies, incentives and conditions for foreign direct investment, automotive manufacturing in Morocco has developed from a burgeoning subsector with potential to become the top export product by value in 2018. The country has been able to attract some of the world’s largest car manufacturers and integrate them into an efficient ecosystem characterised by industrial and…
With a long tradition in leather and garment manufacturing, textiles is one of Morocco’s most important industries, accounting for 15% of industrial GDP, according to the Moroccan Association of the Textile and Apparel Industries (Association Marocaine des Industries du Textile et de l’Habillement, AMITH). While textiles and garments have grappled with periods of crisis, broad industrial…
As Morocco continues to rely on imports of coal, gas and oil to satisfy its energy requirements, the need to reduce its dependence on imports has long been a priority. To this end, the country has sought to develop its renewable energy capacity, alongside new hydrocarbons exploration projects. A combination of favourable regulatory conditions and successful investment promotion has helped attract…
As economic development progresses and urban centres rapidly grow, Moroccan cities are increasingly facing urban mobility challenges and seeing disruptive technologies change the way these problems are addressed. For example, Rabat, which saw its population increase by 18% over the last decade, is expected to accommodate 1.94m passenger movements per day in 2024, up from 1.49m in 2014. Casablanca’s…
Morocco has 27 commercial ports that see a combined annual traffic of 92.3m tonnes in goods. The kingdom’s 2030 National Port Strategy, spearheaded by the National Ports Agency (Agence Nationale des Ports, ANP), allocates investment of close to $7.5bn to expand and upgrade the country’s ports along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts. The ANP will oversee the management and development…
As one of the main pillars of Morocco’s National Pact for Industrial Emergence, the country’s offshoring sector has undergone a transformation thanks to infrastructure development and policies aimed at making the kingdom the preferred offshore destination in French-speaking Africa and beyond. New Opportunities With global companies moving towards a more Anglo-Saxon organisation style,…
Morocco has access to a significant volume of maritime resources. In 2019 the kingdom’s maritime fisheries sector had an output of close to 1.46m tonnes and was valued at nearly Dh11.7bn ($1.2bn), according to the Department of Maritime Fisheries (Département de la Pêche Maritime, DPM). Much of its development strategy has been based on the Halieutis Plan, which was launched in 2009 with…
Africa’s tourism sector is booming. With a growth rate of 5.6% in 2018, compared with the global average of 3.9%, the continent is home to the second-fasted expanding tourism industry in the world, after the Asia-Pacific region. Representing 8.5% of the continent’s GDP, tourism contributed a total of $194.2bn to African economies in 2018. Multiple governments have recognised the importance…
As policymakers and private stakeholders join forces to chart a new path for the tourism sector, more emphasis is likely to put on the development of niche offerings. Several of these have high-value potential and the ability to attract new segments of international travellers. Niche tourism is the base of the sector’s Vision 2020 plan, which highlights six tourism categories. Ecotourism,…
