Official sources forecast that foreign investments in Morocco will reach three billion dollars by the end of 2001. These investments, reported Al-Hayat, are equivalent to eight percent of the Kingdom’s GDP, which presently stands at $36 billion.
During the first half of the current year, Morocco received $2.7 billion worth of private foreign investments, which were subsequently pumped into telecom, tourism, industry, spare car parts, aircraft cables, pharmaceuticals and service industries.
Earlier this year, Moroccan Finance Minister Fathallah Ualalu announced that the country was seen as an “attractive destination” for foreign direct investments, noting the recent privatization of Maroc Télécom, along with a 40 percent rise in tourism and a 29 percent rise in expatriate remittances.
Ualalu attributed the Kingdom’s recent boom in foreign investment to its strategic location, its integration into European markets, and the success of economic and political reforms. —(Mena Report)
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
