Morocco is officially named the Kingdom of Morocco. This is a country located in Northwest Africa. It borders Algeria to the east, the Mediterranean Sea and the Strait of Gibraltar to the North, the Atlantic Ocean to its West and Mauritania to its south. It has a population of 33,757,175 and a total area of 446,550km². In the economic domain, Morocco succeeded in preserving a stable macroeconomic framework (controlled inflation, stable currency, operating cash surplus). The government leads a policy of structural reforms aiming to liberalize and open the economy with foreign competition, to improve the framework of businesses and investments, to diversify productive activities (in particular towards tourism and the IT sector) and finally to modernize the infrastructures. The growth remains however subjected to the fluctuations of the agricultural production. During five last years, it allowed a decrease of unemployment and poverty which remain however at high levels (unemployment rate passed from 13.9% in 1999 to 9.7% in 2006, the level of poverty of 19% in 1999 to 14.3% in 2004).
[...] The government must give them information about any relevant and potential investment that may be decided; it must advise them on growth activities according to the region and/or the sector; finally, it has to present the characteristics and advantages of Morocco in terms of setting up (laws, economy, subsidies After a strategic analysis, the Moroccan government decided to target mostly the European countries thanks to its nearby location, and then the heavy investors such as Japon, USA or China In terms of sector, the government chose to keep traditional sectors as centres of excellence, and to target innovative sectors such as aeronautics, automobile, electronics, telecom, services, offshoring It also created the Investment Regional Centres at a total of 16, covering the 16 regions of Morocco and managed by the local leaderships (Walis). [...]
[...] The system reforms Before the 90's, the Moroccan government began to attract foreign investors with new policies. They were very strict and very confused: - Acceptation of FDI only with a local participation - Strict control about currency rates and exchanges - Limitation to specific sectors - Etc. The legal framework was definitely incompatible with the expectations of the government and the development strategy aimed. The annual average of FDI before the 90's was below US $100 million per year. [...]
[...] In the industry sector, the emergence plan was developed, offering advantages to foreign investors according the type of industry: - Offshoring: turnkey projects, targeting French, Spanish, Swiss and Benelux markets. The favourite locations were Casanearshore (Casa), Technopolis (Rabat), Fez, Marrakech and Oujda. It concerns call- centers as well as high added-value jobs such as engineering. - Automobile: dedicated location “Automotive industry” in Tangier. Renault-Nissan announced an investment of billion for September 2007 for a factory that will produce 400,000 cars per year among which 90% will be exported. [...]
[...] The objective is to reach a profit of billion of income in local currency job creations are expected; this will contribute to 20% of the GDP by 2010 ( in 2006). The plan will concern the constructions of 6 new resorts and is linked with “Vision 2010”. Finally, the increase of the tourism sector should significantly affect the air transport sector. The government wants to liberalize the sector by introducing two new low-cost companies; by increasing the international air traffic and by increasing the offer from Morocco. [...]
[...] The IPPA offers a wider definition of investments based on assets and including: - Direct investment and portfolio, intellectual property, concessions - National Treatment (being treated like a Moroccan investor) and non- discrimination between investors from any foreign country - Free transfers of investments and revenues - Possibility to choose local courts or international arbitration in case of conflict - IPPA valid before and after the application Thanks to IPPA, Morocco signed agreements worldwide distributed as follows: 36% with Europe with Africa with Arab countries with Asia and with America. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
