Morocco’s Digital Investments Bolstered Pandemic Response, Oxford Report Finds

Due to its decade-long commitment to the digital transformation of several sectors of its economy, Morocco has been able to best weather the crisis related to the Covid-19 pandemic, said Oxford Business Group (OBG) in this report on digital transformation in Morocco in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. In this study, the London-based economic intelligence firm demonstrated how the Kingdom, ranked by the European Centre for Digital Competitiveness as the fourth Digital Riser in the MENA region, was able to establish technological solutions to ensure its resilience to the crisis.

The report dwelt at length on the digitization efforts undertaken by Morocco before 2020 and which were already bearing fruit before the coronavirus crisis. This new context has also been the catalyst for a battery of major initiatives aimed at the digital divide among youth, in particular "Horizon 2020", launched in 2017, then "Horizon 2025", notes Oxford Business Group, whose experts are keen to hammer home that Morocco already had a relatively high internet and mobile penetration rate before the Covid-19 pandemic.

In such a posture, the Kingdom has taken advantage to accelerate technological innovation in the sectors of finance, agriculture, or in the field of education and commerce. Mobile payments, for example, increased by 31.3% in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period the previous year, the report also notes.

In the public and private sectors, the report cites in particular the digitization solution for agricultural operations Attaisir or the solutions deployed in the field of distance education, with the launch, as early as March, of the Telmid platform, or the digitization project carried out as part of road infrastructure, which concerns both calls for tenders and payment systems.

The same report also scrutinized the tourism, real estate and culture sectors, ready to be relaunched under the wind of digitalization. Seven out of ten Moroccan employees work in telework, an evolution that could also turn into an opportunity for job creation, the Report appreciates.

Another advantage cited by the Oxford Business Group study is the impact of digital technologies on constraints on social progress and equitable access to services and opportunities. OBG notes in this context that solving the digital divide will help mitigate inequalities in the country, particularly between cities and rural areas, and achieve the goal of more inclusive growth that Morocco has set itself.

In terms of outlook, Bernardo Bruzzone, OBG’s Africa Editorial Director, believes that the Moroccan trend should continue in 2021, benefiting from an evolution of mindsets and a more general adoption of digital technologies in the population. "A thriving innovation sector, dynamic startups and major initiatives, such as the Fez Smart Factory industrial zone project, launched in September, are all positive signs for the post-Covid recovery of the Moroccan economy," he concludes.