MEDI1TV Afrique : Focus sur le rapport de la Banque Mondiale sur la situation économique au Maroc avec Mostapha El Jai - 31/03/2025
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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, good morning and welcome to Mediain TV.
00:11Today, we focus on the latest report on the economic situation in Morocco,
00:16published by the World Bank.
00:18And we focus on the first edition of the Business Ready barometer,
00:22a new index that evaluates the climate of business and investment in the world.
00:26An index that places Morocco in a favourable, comfortable position
00:30and which shows significant progress made by the Kingdom
00:34in improving its business climate.
00:37Let us recall that the World Bank expects a growth of 3.6% in 2025 for Morocco,
00:43driven by an agricultural rebound and a sustained internal demand,
00:47but insists on the need to accelerate structural reforms
00:51to strengthen employment and business competitiveness.
00:55We speak with Mustapha El-Jaye,
00:57Professor of Economics at the Hassane II University in Casablanca.
01:01Hello and thank you for being with us.
01:07Hello, Madam. Thank you for the invitation.
01:08I am Mouba El-Khan.
01:10So, we will focus on the climate of business and investment in Morocco.
01:14What is the state of affairs?
01:15How is Morocco positioned on an international scale?
01:18I just said it in preamble, we are talking about a comfortable position.
01:22What do you think?
01:23As you have said, this new Business Lady report from the World Bank,
01:29the first report for Morocco,
01:31which replaces a bit of the late, if you will, Dowing Business,
01:36with the weaknesses it experienced in 2021.
01:39So, this report provides a quantitative assessment
01:43of all indicators related to the business environment.
01:47And of course, Morocco, as it focuses on the private sector
01:52and private investment to boost its growth,
01:55the objective, as we know from the government,
01:58is to have two-thirds of the investment coming from the private sector by 2030
02:03and one-third coming from the public sector,
02:06knowing that we are in a reverse position at the moment.
02:09Morocco, overall, to attract investors,
02:13both local and foreign, and we need them for the currency,
02:18must improve its business environment.
02:21And of the 50 countries that the World Bank has analysed,
02:24what is positive is that, on these indicators,
02:27Morocco is in a positive position,
02:30especially in relation to countries with equal income
02:34and equal level of development.
02:36We will talk in more detail about these indicators.
02:39On the regulatory side, in any case, and that of public services,
02:43Morocco is in a comfortable position.
02:45It is solid, as you said.
02:47At the moment, it exceeds not only the countries with low intermediate income,
02:51but also the countries with higher intermediate income.
02:54How do you explain these results?
02:58These results are the result of reforms
03:01that Morocco started a long time ago,
03:04another decade, to prepare the business environment a little bit.
03:09There are still things to be done, to refine,
03:14and I think it is ongoing.
03:16So, there are law texts that are being prepared
03:20to wrap everything up on the legislative side.
03:24Of course, now there is also the application.
03:27There are also strong points of Morocco, highlighted in this report,
03:31which are linked, for example, to international trade.
03:33Morocco is doing very well, it has good connectivity,
03:37proximity to international markets,
03:40and what is very important is the digitization of everything that is import-export.
03:45And there, as you said in your introduction,
03:49Morocco is even in a good position
03:51in relation to countries with high income.
03:55We also have other strong points of reference,
03:59such as financial services.
04:01It is also mentioned in this report,
04:05although there are still a few refined efforts
04:10to generalize these services a little bit,
04:13such as recourse and financial inclusion.
04:16And I would also like to point out
04:22the four sectors, or rather the four axes,
04:25the indicators that show some weak points
04:28that Morocco would gain from improving.
04:30We are going to talk about this.
04:32There is operational efficiency, which is more or less limited.
04:36So, why?
04:38What needs to be done to improve this indicator?
04:41Absolutely. So, for Morocco's weak points,
04:45in particular operational efficiency,
04:50there are, of course, constraints related to this efficiency.
04:55And we can cite, if you want,
04:57the first and most important point, which is commercial liquidity.
05:01As I told you, the ideal would be to encourage arbitration
05:06to avoid systematic court recourse
05:09given the length of the proceedings and the cost.
05:12So, in my opinion, arbitration could be a solution.
05:15And I think that the Ministry of Justice is working in this direction
05:19to increase the number of able arbiters
05:23to deal with this kind of case.
05:25There is also a very important point
05:28which is related to the insolvency of companies.
05:31The number of unsolvable companies
05:34that are in trouble, or even that close,
05:38becomes worrying, especially at the level of SMEs.
05:40We have seen the latest statistics.
05:43We are talking about 12,000 to 16,000 companies.
05:46Indeed, the insolvency and competitiveness of these companies
05:52are two pointed fingers.
05:54Absolutely.
05:55And innovation.
05:57The report also cites innovation,
05:59especially at the level of the private sector.
06:02So, Morocco has an interest in encouraging
06:06start-ups, companies that invest in new technologies,
06:12AI that comes into force,
06:14to be, if you will, at the level of the emerging countries.
06:28There is a big problem, which is the cost.
06:31In English, it's labour.
06:33First of all, the cost of employment and the flexibility
06:38of the employment market is very important.
06:40It encourages, it is part of the business environment,
06:45and it encourages foreign and international investors
06:51to invest more in Morocco.
06:53Employment remains a weak point, as you know,
06:56on all levels, in terms of unemployment,
06:59in terms of efficiency, training, continuous training,
07:05and, of course, at the cost level.
07:07It is still a very important point.
07:10There is also, we can add, if you like,
07:14in this regulatory framework, which remains positive,
07:20but which, in some cases, the texts are not applied.
07:26I give an example, for example, in terms of payment delays.
07:28Payment delays, which are a major source of unemployment for companies,
07:33remain very slow, despite the texts of the law being voted on,
07:36and despite the texts that exist.
07:39So, practice, sometimes...
07:40There is a recent law that has been put in place.
07:44We are in the third phase of this law,
07:46and today, things, in any case, on the ground,
07:48seem to be improving, according to the experts
07:51we have already received on this panel,
07:52who have talked about this subject.
07:54We see an improvement since the application of this law,
07:57in any case, don't we?
07:59Exactly.
08:00There is also a point that remains to be improved,
08:05which is the progress to be made in electronic payments
08:09for, if you like, a substitution of the federal currency
08:14by a digital currency.
08:16And here, I think, as Mariette is working on it,
08:18the GPBM is also a strong point,
08:21because when we talk about this aspect,
08:25we refer to the informal, to the non-loyal competition,
08:30and competition is also an important element
08:35for the business environment.
08:38So, that's it.
08:39But overall, as we said,
08:40the balance remains positive for Morocco,
08:43since on six indicators,
08:45in the 50 countries that this business treaty deals with,
08:51Morocco is positioned very well on six indicators,
08:55and I think we have to tackle these weak points
08:58to try to give, I would say,
09:02the share that Morocco deserves,
09:06in terms of geostrategic position,
09:09in terms of stability,
09:10in terms of a royal vision for all structuring projects.
09:14And Morocco, as we know, is also a hub for Africa,
09:17and it deserves much more than the 3.2 billion
09:20that we have in terms of GDP.
09:23We must easily be at 10 billion, in my opinion,
09:26if these conditions are met.
09:29Six indicators in which Morocco is positioned
09:32in a more or less comfortable position out of 10,
09:35let's remember, you said it,
09:36so the challenges to be tackled today
09:38are the competitiveness of companies,
09:40the insolvency of employment, innovation,
09:43but also the widening of electronic payment.
09:48Let's now talk about what can draw this economy.
09:51We are talking about an agricultural rebound
09:53and an internal demand that is quite sustained.
09:57We will end the year, I think,
09:59according to all the World Bank forecasts,
10:01we will go down to 3.5, 3.6,
10:03but it is true that Morocco deserves a growth rate
10:07of at least 5 to 6%
10:10to, one, move towards emerging countries,
10:13two, very important,
10:15and three, to absorb these human margins of young unemployed people
10:18that we have in Morocco.
10:19This is the big weak point that deserves all the attention,
10:23and I think the government has come so close
10:27with this 14 billion dirham program
10:30to try to encourage companies
10:34to recruit these young unemployed people,
10:36since the unemployment rates in certain regions,
10:39at the level of certain categories,
10:40unfortunately, are sometimes a little worrying.
10:44This is also the big issue of this government,
10:48and I hope that Morocco,
10:50God willing, next year,
10:51I hope we will have a good agricultural year
10:54and have growth rates
10:56that exceed the forecasts of 3.5,
10:59which, in my opinion, 3.5 remains an insufficient rate.
11:03We have to make a minimum of 5%,
11:05knowing that this growth rate
11:08now creates only 15,000 to 20,000 jobs
11:12with regard to mechanization, digitalization,
11:16against 25,000 to 30,000 jobs before.
11:19So we have to do a lot more growth rates
11:23to mitigate this rather worrying unemployment.
11:28A positive growth rate,
11:30estimated at 3.5 to 4% for 2025,
11:34but we need a little more, you just said it,
11:36to reach 6, 7% to generate more added value
11:41and create jobs.
11:42And this is done through the support of small businesses,
11:46very small businesses,
11:47which represent 90% of the entrepreneurial fabric
11:52and which are the creators of wealth,
11:55of value and of jobs.
11:58Absolutely.
11:59So, as you said, 90% of our economic tissue is GDP.
12:03The largest is less than 10 million dirhams.
12:07So this GDP, unfortunately,
12:09suffers from several issues,
12:11access to financing,
12:15payment time, treasury.
12:17So it is this GDP that we must help and support.
12:21I think that the decision,
12:24I would say,
12:25that we must salute Bank of Morocco
12:26during the last Council, last week,
12:29to finance,
12:30refinance the banks that have decredited GDP
12:33at a 2% rate against a 2.25% rate
12:37is a healthy solution
12:39that must now be accompanied by practical meetings
12:43between the GPBM, Banque Moroccaine, the CGM,
12:46why not the Federation of SMEs,
12:49but everyone,
12:50Tim Wilcox, because there are also guarantee funds
12:53that facilitate access to financing to these SMEs,
12:56gather all these good people
12:59and discuss,
13:00and pose the problems in a concrete way,
13:03and try to bring effective solutions.
13:06All this brings us back to our topic of Business Lady,
13:10and I hope that, God willing,
13:12next year,
13:13the indicators,
13:14Morocco still presents some weaknesses,
13:16will be improved
13:18so that we can have more foreign and national investors.
13:24And once again,
13:25do not forget the vision,
13:27reverse the trend,
13:29two-thirds of private investment
13:31against a third of public investment.
13:32That is, in my opinion, the objective.
13:34And it is only the private sector,
13:35private investment,
13:36which creates employment,
13:37which creates wealth.
13:39Thank you, Mr. Mustapha El-Jaye,
13:41for this analysis of this report.
13:44A more or less positive overall assessment.
13:46So, six very solid indicators out of ten,
13:49as we said during this broadcast,
13:50but still efforts to be made on certain points
13:54to further improve the robustness of the national economy.
13:58I remind you that you are a professor of economics
14:00at the Hassan II University of Casablanca.
14:02It was a pleasure to have you with us.
14:05It was a pleasure to share my day.
14:07Thank you for the invitation.
14:08See you soon.
14:09This is the end of Focus Eco for today.
14:11We will meet again tomorrow with a new guest,
14:13a new topic.
14:14Have a very good day.