Morocco Economic Structure

Since the early 1980s, Morocco has been pursuing an economic program to accelerate its real economic growth. To implement this program, Morocco has the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Paris Club of creditors.

Since the early 1980s, Morocco has been pursuing an economic program to accelerate its real economic growth. To implement this program, Morocco has the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Paris Club of creditors.

Economic Geography

Morocco is located in Northern Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, between Algeria and Western Sahara. Its terrain includes coastal areas in the north, central mountains with large areas of bordering plateaus, intermontane valleys, and rich coastal plains with a Mediterranean climate.

Morocco’s natural resources include phosphates, iron ore, manganese, lead, zinc, fish and salt.

Population and Labor Force

Morocco’s population as of 2010 was 31.972 million, and is expected to grow to 33.353 million by 2015. Current (2010) unemployment in Morocco is 9.6 percent, down from almost 12 percent in 2005, and is expected to go down to 9.1 percent in 2011 and remain constant at that figure until 2015.

The labor force is 11.5 million, employed primarily in agriculture, industry, and service sectors. Morocco still has a high number of illiterate people with low educational enrollment and therefore contributing to high unemployment.

Industry Sectors

Morocco’s industrial production growth rate in 2010 was 1.9 percent, down from 5.8 percent in 2008. Morocco registered 5.5 percent growth in industrial activity in 2007. This marked a slight improvement from the 2006 level, when the sector saw 4.7 percent growth.

 In 2010, agriculture contributed 14.7 percent of GDP, 38.9 from industry and 46.5 percent from services.

Morocco Tourism and Information Technology

Morocco’s economic structure is reliant on the services sector. The sector accounts for roughly 50 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). The industry sector, which constitutes mining, construction and manufacturing, accounts for slightly more than 30 percent.

The sectors that have experienced the highest growth are:

•    Tourism: Morocco received 8 million tourists in 2008. Tourist receipts totaled $7,55 billion in 2007. The country is pursuing “Vision 2010,” an ambitious strategy that is aimed at attracting 10 million tourists by 2010. This strategy involves creating 160,000 beds by the end of 2010, which will raise the total capacity across the country to 230,000 beds. The new strategy is also aimed at creating an additional 600,000 jobs.

•    Information technology: This sector has seen significant expansion since 2002. Morocco is the first North African country to install a 3G network. In 2007, the number of Internet subscribers in the country jumped 31.6 percent compared to the previous year and 100 percent from 2005. The government is aiming to add more local content to the Internet and expand the computer network in schools and universities to increase Internet usage.
The other two high-growth sectors have been telecom and textiles.

Agriculture

Morocco also depends on its agriculture. The agriculture sector employs roughly 45 percent of the Moroccan population, yet accounts for only 18.8 percent of GDP. With about 33,000 square miles (85,000 square km) of arable land, Morocco is one among few Arab countries that have the potential to be self-sufficient in food production.

The contribution of the agriculture sector to Morocco’s GDP changes with weather as the country has a semi-arid climate where it’s difficult to ensure good rainfall. In the years with normal levels of rainfall, Morocco’s production of grains (primarily wheat, barley and corn) can meet two-thirds of the domestic consumption. The country is currently involved in developing its irrigation system, which will ultimately irrigate over 2.5 million acres (1 million hectares) of land.