Morocco : Risks under control

In Morocco, the latest GDP growth and inflation figures were better than expected, but the latest drought in the country undermines its economic recovery. Regional instability is another real risk to bear in mind. However, the country's adequate economic policy management and solid fundamentals remain supportive factors of macroeconomic stability.

Faced with an accumulation of shocks over the past five years, the Moroccan economy is holding up well. The authorities are maintaining a prudent economic policy that willnot jeopardise the stabilisation seen in the country's economy since the Covid-19 crisis.

Most encouragingly, they have also sought to learn from these events by launching ambitious reforms, such as the development programme for the Marrakech region, hit by an earthquake in September 2023, which goes far beyond reconstruction.

In addition, this year will once again see measures implemented to strengthen the social safety net, starting with introducing monthly direct support for disadvantaged families or continuing to expand social security coverage.

The headwinds are still strong. In addition to regional instability, Morocco is once again under water stress and the resulting drop in agricultural production will adversely affect economic growth. However, the good macroeconomic fundamentals will help the economy to navigate through this further period of turbulence largely unscathed.

External-account stability is not under threat

The dynamics of external accounts are not raising any major concerns.

After widening to 3.6% of GDP in 2022, the current account deficit fell to 0.6% of GDP in 2023 (see chart 1), thanks to the drop in the global prices of the main commodities imported by Morocco and the good performance of the main sources of foreign currency. With 14.5 million visitors in 2023 and revenue rising above USD 10 billion (7.4% of GDP) for the first time, the tourism sector had a record year, as did financial transfers from the Moroccan diaspora, which were up almost 6% (USD 11.4 billion, or 8.1% of GDP). The overall export performance was more mixed (+0.2%).

However, with car exports (+27.4%) offsetting the 34% drop in phosphate and derivative exports, there is evidence that the economy is becoming more resilient to external shocks. Car production has almost tripled over the last ten years or so, hitting 536,000 units last year, making the sector the country's leading export source (+77% between 2019 and 2023). Combined with the boom in other industrial niche markets (such as electronics and aeronautics), this sustained development has reduced the economy's vulnerability to fluctuating terms of trade and to the demand from its main trading partners. Morocco has continued to increase its market share on the European continent. Despite a rise in imports, due to increased investment and rising food needs as a result of the drop in agricultural production, the current account deficit is expected to be kept at under 3% of GDP this year.

External financing needs will be manageable to cover. In contrast to the global trend, net flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) rose by 60% between 2020 and 2022 to hit 1.6% of GDP. They fell to 0.7% of GDP in 2023 due to the dual effect of major investments outside Morocco and a 18% drop in inflows. However, they are expected to rebound from this year, in view of the growing number of projects announced. In addition, the country has good access to international financial markets, a moderate external debt (less than 50% of GDP) and sizeable foreign exchange reserves (5.9 months of goods and services imports). In a still unstable environment, the provision of a USD 5 bn flexible credit line by the IMF is also reassuring.

Budgetary consolidation: Morocco is staying the course

The credibility of the government's budgetary consolidation strategy is another factor contributing to the country's macroeconomic stability. Despite a record amount of public investment of 7.7% of GDP, the budget deficit shrank by 0.7 points in 2023, to 4.5% of GDP, thanks to strong tax revenues and the drop of 1.1 point of GDP in energy and food subsidies, which followed the