Morocco’s 2030 World Cup Bid: Economic Boost Expected Despite Limited Profit

"Do mega-events make money? In my opinion, no! But in terms of investment, we can say that we can gain 10 years. It should also be known that GDP will gain between 1 and 2.5 points with the organization of the World Cup. For each point gained, there will be between 50,000 to 60,000 jobs created. I think that for the coming years, there will be a lot of job creation," analyzed the guest of the Info en Face. According to his explanations, state investments are not made according to the same logic as private sector investments. "Here we are talking about investments in diplomacy, security, health, infrastructure, in the high-speed line that will probably arrive in Marrakech, or even Agadir. These are things that the State needs. That’s why we shouldn’t expect profitability, at least in the short term," he added.

How much will the World Cup cost the Morocco-Spain-Portugal trio? "The first estimates talk about 50 billion dollars of investment for the three countries. We are on a consistent average of 17 or 18 billion per country. It all depends on the number of matches we want to host and the number of stadiums we propose to FIFA. If we take the figures from the World Cup in Russia, we are talking about $15 billion in investment. If we take the figures from the World Cup in Brazil, we are talking about $18 billion. We are in the standard figures. In Qatar, it was $200 billion in investments. It was out of the ordinary," explained Hicham Gabriel, before making a plea in favor of Moroccan companies. "Before starting to launch tenders for the realization of the projects, we must first think of the Moroccan companies so that they can benefit from the investments that will be made. In my opinion, the public authorities must look into this issue even before starting to launch the various markets, whether for the organization or the development of infrastructure," he insisted, advising the Moroccan authorities to follow the example of Qatar.

"Foreign companies must partner with Moroccan companies. It must be an obligation! Qatar did the same by forcing foreign companies to partner with Qatari companies in order to be able to respond to a number of tenders. This must also be the case in Morocco," he continued.