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Country name: Kingdom of Morocco
Population: 33,800,000 (July 2007 estimate)
Land Area: 446,550km2
Official Language: Arabic
Currency: Moroccan dirham (MAD) = 100 centimes
Capital: Rabat
Main Cities: Agadir, Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech, Tangier, Tetouan, Tiznit
Morocco has embarked on a series of ambitious plans to attract investment and stimulate its economy. With tourism and development at the top of its agenda, Morocco is seeking to create six coastal resorts, five on the Atlantic Coast and one on the Mediterranean; it is upgrading regional airports to attract budget airlines to locations other than Marrakech, to increase flight capacity over the country, and it is to build a new high-speed train service. There are several large-scale construction projects in the offing, including the possibility of a tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar to link Morocco and Spain. Morocco is experiencing a period of economic growth particularly in the non-agricultural sector with European demands for the country’s products increasing through to 2008, according to observers. Morocco’s proximity to the expanding EU market is proving more attractive to European firms seeking to reduce labour costs by relocating operations there, a trend that acts to boost Moroccan exports.
Opportunities are increasing in several sectors as Morocco seeks to diversify away from traditional partners and develop new industries and markets. The economy is opening up to new suppliers. The sectors where expertise is particularly suitable to meet local demand are:
Telecommunications: liberalization offers opportunities in mobile and fixed telephony, and related data transmission services;
Agriculture: generates 15% of GDP; opportunities in post-harvest technology and irrigation;
Food processing and packaging: areas such as plant modernization, labelling and advice on standards;
Water and waste management: improvements are a key national objective; concessions are being awarded to private companies to run water and sewerage networks;
Financial services: banking, insurance and legal services are increasingly sophisticated;
Tourism: there is underexploited potential here and the country recently launched a new Charter for Responsible Tourism for the industry and is seeking to increase the number of visits by several million over the next few years. There are opportunities in hotel and leisure facilities, niche tourism and related services;
Energy: privatization and development of new energy resources;
Mining: phosphates are Morocco's largest industry.
Morocco launched its Vision 2010 in 2001, a broad-based policy to almost double the number of visitors to the country to 10 million by the end of the decade. The strategy appears to be on target with visitor numbers in 2006 reaching 7.1 million. Morocco is already looking beyond the 10 million goal with figures of 12 million, 14 million and even 20 million tourists per annum mentioned as future ambitions. Whatever the precise figure, it is clear that the sector’s continued growth is likely to be considerable.
Tourism Minister Adil Douiri has stated that Morocco was looking to encourage investment of $7 billion by 2010 to attract both weekend holidaymakers and long-term visitors. The country has long attracted a steady stream of overseas visitors, mainly from Europe, drawn by the country's easy location, good weather and comparative low costs.
In the past the relatively high price of flights into the country was an obstacle to mass tourism, but this has now changed since Morocco became the first African country to join Europe's flight zone which has opened up routes to a series of budget airlines. Low cost carriers from Europe now fly direct to Morocco. And the country has with Atlas Blue and jet4you its own low-cost-carriers providing cheap flights between Morocco and Europe.
A new emphasis on responsibility was marked by the publication of the country’s Charter for Responsible Tourism which launched in London in April 2007. The charter sets guidelines for responsible business activities in the supply chain and management system of tourism. The result is a practical set of principles that demonstrate how partnerships with foreign tour operators can help preserve and protect the heritage of the country.
Speaking to an audience of key players in the travel and tourism industry, Abbas Azzouzi, CEO of the Moroccan National Tourism Office & Secretary General of the Committee for Responsible Tourism, stressed that the decision to adopt the Charter was not part of a fashionable trend in going green, but was driven by deeper objectives. The key values were based on three imperatives:
i, To preserve Morocco’s heritage and traditions for the future;
ii, To preserve the natural environment;
iii, To protect the cultural traditions, identity and way of life of the population.
The expansion of tourism offers huge investment opportunities, and with the tourism authorities adopting the principles laid down in the Charter, particular opportunities have opened up in the area of responsible tourism management and development. The Charter covers every aspect from the effective use of local resources and labour, designing marketing strategies to attract responsible visitors, as well as adopting eco-friendly construction methods for hotels and resorts and products.
Growing numbers of wealth tourists have helped kick start a flurry of development projects for new resorts and infrastructure facilities. Among these is Colony Capital's $2 billion resort on the Atlantic coast near Agadir that will cover some 2000 acres and include up to five deluxe hotels, and offer varied outdoor activities for the well heeled. Another is a project by Kerzner International to develop a resort, complete with 500-room hotel, golf course, spa and casino, 80km outside of Casablanca.
The country has been modernising its property-buying processes to attract foreign investors who are looking to buy holiday homes. This has proved an attraction for European buyers.
In September 2006, the multi-national developer Domaine Palm Marrakech signed an agreement to establish an international standard golf resort Marrakech. Projected to cost $215 million, the resort will add 5300 beds to the country's accommodation capacity and will create more than 1500 new jobs. According to the National Tourism Office, there are presently some 50 hotels and 30 gold courses either in the planning or development stage, with more to come in the future, along with the promise of more jobs.
Major Moroccan banks announced considerable profits in 2006 reflecting resilience in the face of increasing competition. Attijariwafa Bank kicked off the reporting season, publishing consolidated net banking results that rose by 19.9% year-on-year, to reach Dh6.76 billion. Although competition between the larger banks has increased, resulting in the limitation of commercial interest rate differentials, Attijariwafa managed to register a 6.3% rise in its interest margins, reaching Dh4.28 billion.
Meanwhile, margins on commissions progressed by 46.9%, while renting and lease-credit operations rose by 45.8%. The largest increase was undoubtedly in market operations, which grew by 87.1%. The largest bank in terms of deposits, Attijariwafa holds a market share in deposits of 27.53%, or Dh117.1 billion.
The second-largest bank in the kingdom, Groupe Banques Populaires (GBP), also announced healthy growth rates, with its consolidated net banking result up 5.6% to Dh6.1 billion and a 35.7% increase - the highest rise in the market - in its net profit, standing at Dh2.3 billion. Client deposits rose by 13.9% and margins on commissions by 19.3%. GBP holds the largest share of consumer loans, with 41.9% of the market.
Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE) recorded a 16.3% increase in its consolidated net banking result, reaching Dh3.61 billion. Its client credits progressed by 23.5% to reach Dh46 billion, with real estate credits rising 50%.
Real estate loans accounted for the main increase for a majority of banks, reflecting the strength and sustained growth in the real estate sector at large.
Crédit Immobilier et Hotelier (CIH), recorded a profit for the first time in 12 years in the first quarter of 2006, turning a Dh48 million deficit in 2005 into a Dh388 million profit for 2006. All indicators rose for CIH, bearing the fruits of restructuring efforts under its CEO Khalid Alioua. Its consolidated net banking result rose fro Dh914 million to Dh1.15 billion.
Banks affiliated with international groups have not been able to conduct as many market operations as local banks, given that policies for operations involving local treasury bonds are fixed from their international headquarters. Nonetheless their 2006 results proved equally satisfactory. Crédit du Maroc (CDM) registered an increase from Dh65 million to Dh84 million in 2006 in terms of results of market operations. Interest margins rose from Dh930 million to over Dh1 billion, while margins on commissions stayed relatively stable at Dh214 million. Consolidated net banking profits for CDM nonetheless registered a healthy rise to Dh1.3 billion in 2006, from Dh1.2 billion in 2005 and net profit stood at Dh317 million, an increase of approximately 25%.
Since the coming into force of the free trade agreement (FTA) with the US in January 2006, Morocco has moved to impose stricter penalties for violations of intellectual property rights. The FTA contains provisions concerning data protection, which the US State Department says are part of a broader framework in the kingdom. Indeed, Morocco has not been listed on the US Trade Representative's (USTR) Special 301 Report, which monitors the state of copyright protections in countries around the world. While piracy does remain a problem, falling from 100% of music recordings sold to 95% in the past year according to the USTR, government efforts to protect intellectual property rights were acknowledged in a 2006 Special 301 Special Mention by the USTR.
E-commerce is continuing to evolve as increasing numbers of Moroccans connect to the internet. In fact the country now has one of the fastest growing broadband markets in the world. In respect of e-commerce several business-to-consumer sites have been launched in 2006 largely in the form of merchant galleries. As long as most Moroccans remain unequipped with credit cards, these online galleries are suitable to the local market, operating on a cash-on-delivery model. Since 1995, 400,000 internet users have signed up, 96% of which have broadband. The number of internet subscribers was predicted to reach 500,000 by the end of the year.
Business-to-business sites are also taking off with companies such as Von Trebber allowing its network of retailers in Morocco to order its IT products online.
An e-commerce platform launched in 2001 by Banque Centrale Populaire (BCM), Banque Marocaine du Commerce et de l'Industrie (BMCI), Credit du Maroc, Societe Generale Marocaine de Banques, and Intelcom, a Moroccan company focusing on infrastructure, licensing and security. The platform, called Maroc Telecommerce, supports about 10 merchant sites, which sell services including hotel reservations, car hire, airline tickets and administrative services for businesses. The site serves both businesses and individual consumers, and includes businesses such as Diala, an auction site, and Laetistyle, which sells specialty gifts.
Quelle: Ghorfa, Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry e.V.
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