Morocco

Mamoune Bouhdoud, the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Industry, Trade, Investment, and Digital had an interview on Bloomberg TB Africa on August 26^th about how Morocco is planning to create new jobs in multiple industries.
            The plan was to create 500,000 jobs in Morocco. Bouhdoud told Bloomberg that the main structure of the plan had been formulated for two reasons; one being that Morocco needed a clear view of its’ own future, and two being that national and international companies needed a better stance on the country’s industries to better provide and place investors.

            Bouhdoud goes on to point out that Morocco has a few strong points. With 56           FTAs in different countries, including the only FTA between the USA and Africa, Morocco is an open economy with strong political and economic stability.  The Moroccan economy has grown an average of 5% in the last decades while maintaining a very low inflation rate. Also pooled in with this data is the fact that Morocco is home to the largest harbor in the Mediterranean Sea, and the Casablanca Airport which connects with many different areas.  He states that the Moroccan economy is ready to push forward as an emerging force. Turkey, Malaysia, and even parts of South Korea have went through stages where their portion of industry reflective in their GDP floats in the same region as Morocco’s, which is roughly around 14%. Now the economies of these countries have been raised to around 20-22%. The focus has now shifted to placing their energy on industry to move to the same level as the other countries.

            Bouhdoud states that once Morocco placed the focus on industries, they had to set a clear objective. Not only did they want to create half a million jobs, but they also wanted to add 9 industrial points to the GDP, and the balance to be equal to 0. “For the existing sectors,” he proclaims, “we want to have higher integration rates.” He points out that this is the first factor for job creation. The second factor to reaching a higher level of GDP points is industrial funding set by Morocco at $2.5 billion. This is the largest amount Morocco has ever put in place for the industrial sector.  Industrial isn’t the only sector Morocco is focusing on, though. Bouhdoud points out that it is important to capitalize on other sectors, such as automobile, and make them profitable for the country. Renewable energy, agribusiness, and textiles fall among the rankings of high pay off Moroccan industries.

            When asked by the Bloomberg reporter what changes would be made to the free trade agreements, Bouhdoud responded by saying that their free trade agreements, especially the one signed with the US in 2006, are in full force, but the potential is huge and they have room to work on them. He points out that it only takes 9 days for a shipment to leave Morocco and arrive in the states.

            With its efforts in capitalizing on foreign investments and investing in different sectors, Morocco is on its way to creating half a million new jobs for its people.