Industry, Mining & Retail

With an increasing focus on value-added export industries in manufacturing, Morocco has become one of Africa’s leading countries for industrial FDI. The 2009 strategic plan to bolster six designated segments by investing billions of dirhams and facilitating new investments, has drawn in sizable injections of capital and seen an increase in manufactured production, due to strong performance by the automotive and aeronautics sectors. There has been a push to improve performance in the mining sector, in part by encouraging upstream and downstream activity in a variety of metals and minerals. The government rolled out a comprehensive strategy for the sector in 2013, which aims to boost investment and expand capacity, as well as introduce a new mining code. The formal retail industry remains fairly limited, but it has been gathering steam over the past three years. A growing middle class and urbanisation rate, as well as a modernisation of consumer shopping habits bode well for the sector’s future. Major international brands and franchises are increasingly entering and expanding into Morocco, taking advantage of a significant rise in dedicated retail properties. This chapter contains interviews with Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Minister of Industry, Commerce, Investment and Digital Economy, and Hamid Benbrahim El Andaloussi, Chairman, Moroccan Aerospace Industries Group (GIMAS).