Moroccan Foreign Investment Surges to 10.9 Billion Dirhams in 2019, Central Bank Reports

The flow of direct investments by Moroccans abroad (IDME) increased from 3.8 billion dirhams (MMDH) in 2009 to over 10.9 MMDH in 2019, according to Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM).

In its annual report on the economic, monetary and financial situation for the 2019 fiscal year, BAM indicated that IDME has experienced a significant increase since the early 2000s. According to data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the average annual volume of FDI increased from $232.3 million between 2000 and 2009 to $540.2 million during the following decade.

In detail, over the past ten years, Morocco ranks 5th as an African investor abroad. With regard to its percentage of GDP, the volume of IDME represents only 0.5%. This proportion is low compared to the average of emerging and developing countries (PEMD) which reached 1.5%.

According to the same source, no Moroccan company has been able to rank among the 100 most active multinationals of the PEMD in terms of foreign investment. As for banks and financial activities, they represent the first investor abroad with a share of 30% of the global stock and a regular outflow of 2 MMDH on average per year over the past ten years.

As for insurance companies, they make significant investments with an average annual volume of 515 million dirhams (MDH), unlike telecommunications which account for 11% of this stock, the industrial sector 13.2%, dominated by cement plants and OCP, while real estate investments experienced a strong increase between 2011 and 2015, followed by a marked decline.