7 Top Reasons

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• Cost Competitiveness

  

  Only 14km south of Europe, Morocco is a competitive platform for export :

  • Low Wages: The average wage is 327$/month, i.e. almost ten times lower than in Spain.

  

  • Competitive costs to export : 700$/container

  

   

  • Low Tax rates : Taxes paid by companies represent only 42% of their profit

  
  
   

• Strong and Stable Macroeconomic Performances

  

  Preserving macroeconomic stability is a major concern for Moroccan governments. Several actions and structural reforms have been undertaken to put the country on the path of strong and sustainable growth:

  • Access to new growth levels

  A continuously growing economy with an average growth rate of 5.1% over the period 2001-2010, registering an increase of 3.3 points compared to the previous decade.

  
   

  • Resilience in the face of the crisis

  Despite the international financial and economic crisis, Morocco's economy has proved to be resilient: 4.9% GDP growth in 2009 (largest increase across the Mediterranean region)

  

   

  • Controlled inflation

  Around 2% despite the increase in oil and raw material prices

  

   

  • Reducing debt levels

  The overall debt of the treasury was reduced by 26 points between 2000 and 2009 to stand at 47% of GDP.

  

   

  • Growth driven by domestic demand and public investment

  Household consumption grew by an average 8% per year between 2004 and 2010 to reach MAD 442 billion (52 billion USD), while public investment nearly tripled during the same period to reach MAD 167 billion (20 billion USD)

                              

• Free Trade Access to One Billion Consumers

  

  

  Thaks to diverse free-trade agreements, Morocco offers investor free duty access to a market of 55 countries representing more than 1 billion consumers and 60% of world GDP.

  • Morocco/European Union: Morocco is the first country in the southern side of the Mediterranean to benefit from the advanced status in its relations with the European Union
  • Morocco/USA: The Free Trade Agreement with the United States (Morocco’s 6th largest trade partner) is part of the overall strategy of the Moroccan economy.
  • Agadir Treaty: signed in February 2004 and came into effect in April 2007, the Agadir free trade agreement between Morocco, Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia, provides for the immediate lifting of Non-Tariff Barriers and the gradual establishment of a free trade area.   
  • Morocco and Turkey: The Free Trade Agreement signed with Turkey supports trade between the two countries that continues to grow, as it reached in 2009 an annual volume of USD 900 million against 260 million in 2003.
  • Morocco/WAEMU(underway): The upcoming signature of trade and investment agreement between Morocco and the he West African Economic and Monetary Union will lay the ground for sustained regional cooperation and contribute to making the kingdom a gateway to the West African market.

  For more details on the treaties and agreements, pease visit Free Trade Agreements section.

  Thanks to its geostrategic location, Morocco is at the crossroads of the main international exchange routes, linking the United States of America, Europe, Africa and the Middle-East.

• World Class Infrastructure

  

  For over a decade, Morocco launched large-scale projects aimed at elevating its infrastructure to international standards:

  • Tanger-Med Port entered into service in 2007 with a total capacity of over 3 million containers (8 million in 2016), in addition to professional real estate of over 2000 hectares, complements the overall port infrastructure consisting of 11 ports meeting international standards.
     
  • With the completion of the complementary program, the highway network will pass from a length of 1500 km in 2010 to 1800 km in 2015, connecting all cities exceeding 400,000 residents.
     
  • Thanks to an Open Sky policy, the 15 international airports in Morocco (largest airport hub in the region) are used by a multitude of international companies and are connected to major cities and economic platforms of world affairs.
     
  • A wide network of Economic Activities Zones (Integrated Industrial Platforms, free zones, clusters...)
     
  • Telecommunications infrastructure meeting international standards. Three global operators (Fixed phone, mobile, Internet and data), the telecommunications sector in Morocco achieves every year an intense and sustained activity: 97% mobile penetration and 13 million Internet users (September 2010).

• Qualified Labor Force

  

  In Morocco, human resources have all the ingredients to become the pivots of a competitive investment and value creator: education level, cultural openness, language skills and new technologies, commitment to entrepreneurship, adaptation capacity to change and competitive labor costs:

  • A young and active population:
    Total population of 32 million unhabitants
    64% of population aged under 34
    Active population of 12 million
     
  • Qualified Human Ressources:
    16 Universities and 170 private higher education institutions
    370 000 students in public and private higher education
    40 000 higher education graduates per year, including 10 000 engineers
     
  • Advanced linguistics capacities
    Over 20 million french speakers Moroccans
    Over 5 million french speakers Moroccans
    Large penetration of English among young people and management staff
     
  • Vocation training adapted to market needs:
    300 vocational training institutions
    Training of 220,000 students per year
    Up to 65 000 MAD public subsidies over the three first years
     
  • Training institutes for each sectorial strategy
     

• Sectorial Plans

  

  Morocco launched numerous strategic sectorial plans that ensure strong and sustainable economic growth. This reform momentum is marked by an innovative contracting approach and public private partnership advocating greater and coordinated participation of the private sector in the development of sectoral strategies and policies along with the funding of projects allowing to refocus the State’s role on its regulatory powers.

  These strategies are part of a process to speed the development of strategic sectors like agriculture, fishery, mining, renewable energy, logistics and promising sectors such as automotive, aerospace and services with high added value.

• Constantly improving business Climate

  

  To promote the investment act, a particular attention is given to improving the business climate. A set of mechanisms to increase competition and transparency was put in place:
   

  • Simplification of administrative procedures for businesses
  • Strengthening the business law framework (law on competition and free pricing, law on economic interest groups, law on industrial and intellectual property ...)
  • Improving regulatory transparency
  • Development and modernization of financial markets
  • Creation of the Business Environment National Committee
  • Creation of the Central Authority on the Prevention of Corruption
  • Creation of the Moroccan Office for Intellectual and Commercial Property
  • Promotion of the Charter on Corporate Social Responsibility