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Morocco’s banking sector remained resilient in 2013, benefitting from cash injections from Bank Al Maghrib, the central bank, and the industry is among the most sophisticated on the continent. Although liquidity is still less than ideal and non-performing loans have inched upwards, indicators have been positive for the sector, with capital adequacy requirements well above Basel III and deposits growing robustly. In what was both a local and a regional first, 2013 saw a private Moroccan financial institution turn to the international capital markets to float $300m worth of bonds. With Europe’s economy slowly seeing a much-needed improvement (the European Central Bank forecasts economic growth of 1.1% in 2014 and 1.5% in 2015 for the area) and Morocco establishing a number of partnerships with Middle Eastern, US and Asian partners, the country as a whole should benefit. This chapter contains interviews with Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor, Bank Al Maghrib, and Othman Benjelloun, President, BMCE Bank.

The year 2013 was one of ups and downs for emerging market equities. The Moroccan All Shares Index (MASI) eased downwards in 2013 for the third consecutive year, ceding 2.6%. However, the decline was markedly slower than in 2012, when it fell 15.3%. The Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) certainly grappled with a number of exogenous pressures, hitting a five-year low at the end of August 2013. While overall market performance in 2013 was muted, a number of sub-segments saw prices rise over the course of the year. Performance in early 2014 has already begun to show promise, with the exchange up 3.4% year-to-date and up 6.8% year-on-year (y-o-y) as of May 2. As the year progresses, the reclassification to a frontier market by MSCI and the successful initial public offering (IPO) of the Jorf Lasfar Energy Company (JLEC) in December 2013 could continue to serve as catalysts to turn around the fortunes of the MASI. This chapter contains interviews with Said Ibrahimi, CEO, Casablanca Finance City, and Younes Benjelloun, Partner and CEO, CFG Group.

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).

Morocco’s tourism sector has undergone a major shift in recent years in large measure due to the implementation of the Moroccan National Tourism Office’s (ONMT) Vision 2020 programme, which seeks to attract 20m tourists by 2020. The programme also aims at raising the country’s “sun and surf” profile, boosting annual revenues to Dh140bn (€12.43bn), increasing hotel bed capacity to 375,000 and creating 9500 new jobs in the industry, all by 2020. While the economic crisis in Europe and the fallout from the Arab Spring elsewhere in North Africa have continued to impact the tourism industry in Morocco, the sector has nevertheless seen moderate expansion in activity. With 10m tourists visiting Morocco in 2013, the tourism sector is a leading contributor to the kingdom’s GDP, at around 7%. The ONMT predicts that Morocco will receive 10.7m tourists in 2014 and 12m in 2016. Tourist expenditure and nights spent at hotels, however, have decreased. Taken together, these factors have put pressure on profits and prices have been reduced in an effort to boost volumes. Efforts by both the public and private sectors mean that the industry’s long-term outlook remains robust, although things may be more volatile in the medium term. This chapter contains an interview with Lahcen Haddad, Minister of Tourism.

The Moroccan transport sector has made some great strides in recent years, and projects across the spectrum are ongoing and set for delivery over the next year and a half, in line with the government’s medium-term infrastructure development plans. While major events such as the 2008-09 financial crisis, the ensuing eurozone debt crisis and recent regional political instability have impacted passenger and cargo flows to and from the kingdom, investment plans in general have kept pace. As such, the first phase of SAAN, a multi-phased plan to upgrade and extend Morocco’s road network, was completed in 2012 and involved the construction of 1000 km of roads. Over the next five years substantial public funding is set to go towards revamping and expanding road, rail, maritime and air traffic infrastructure. This will consolidate Morocco’s position as a regional transit hub for both cargo and passenger traffic, while also responding to growing demand from the domestic market, where passengers are increasing in number, as well as demanding better service quality. This chapter contains interviews with Thierry de Margerie, Vice-President Africa, Alstom, and Faysal El Hajjami, President & Managing Director for Maghreb Region, DHL Express.

Anchored by the port city of Tangiers, Morocco’s diverse northern region has undergone a significant transformation in the past 10 years thanks in large part to efforts to decentralise governance, boost local infrastructure and encourage industrial growth. The crux of these efforts is an integrated economic development plan that aims to capitalise on the region’s location at the juncture of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean and along key maritime trade routes. In addition, a five-year urban and economic development plan, Tangiers-Metropolis, launched in September 2013, aims to invest another Dh7.66bn (€680.2m) in the greater Tangiers area between 2013 and 2017 to reinforce its position as a motor of the national economy. Today, Tangiers-Tétouan is the second-largest recipient of FDI inflows after the greater Casablanca area. While the port-industrial complex in Tangiers has been the focus of public and private investment in the past decade, the region’s growth has opened up possibilities in a number of sectors, including tourism, services, information and communications technology, offshoring and agriculture. This chapter contains interviews with Fouad Brini, President of the Supervisory Council, Tangiers Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA), and Julianne M Furman, Founder, Tangiers Free Zone Investors Assoc.; President, Polydesign Systems; and GM, Exco Automotive Solutions Europe.