What kinds of strategies are used by local authorities to attract foreign direct investment in Morocco?

Résumé du document

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).

Extraits

[...] The third and final step is the reception of foreign investors. 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). [...]

[...] In order to avoid the volatility of privatization operations, the government had to think about sector-focused policies that would attract productive FDI. 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. [...]

[...] 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. [...]

[...] The strategies used by local authorities to attract FDI In the early 90's, the Moroccan government was considering to attract foreign investors in order to stimulate the local economy. They had some competitive advantages but their regulations were very conservative and protectionist. So, it came to think about reforming institutions. The institutional framework Before starting any reform, it is important to define the institutional framework. There are 3 main points in a framework definition. The first stage is the promotion of Morocco. [...]

[...] What kinds of strategies are used by local authorities to attract foreign direct investment in Morocco? Introduction to Morocco 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). [...]