Morocco’s Economic Rise: King Mohammed VI’s Vision Drives African Investment and Trade

With Mohammed VI, Morocco began to build major infrastructure to attract investment in order to take advantage of its geostrategic position for trade between West Africa, Europe and the Middle East, analyzes Atalayar. In this dynamic, Morocco has intensified its foreign policy towards sub-Saharan Africa and consolidated its relations with the West. This is how it reintegrated the EU in 2017 after 30 years of absence, and signed on May 30, 2019 the Free Trade Agreement aimed at making Africa one of the largest economic markets and free movement of people and goods.

Morocco has also signed several bilateral cooperation agreements in various areas of common interest (education, food security, youth employment, climate change, water and electricity management, etc.). In particular, it has signed trade agreements to facilitate its direct investments in countries such as Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Gabon, Mali, Guinea-Bissau, Rwanda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana and the Republic of Guinea.

With its significant investments in Africa, Morocco is considered the second investor on the continent, after South Africa, and the first in West Africa. This is thanks to Attijariwafa bank, Banque Centrale Populaire and Bank of Africa which hold a fifth of banking assets in West Africa. The fertilizer giant OCP is present in 16 African countries, and Maroc Telecom, in several sub-Saharan African countries.

Morocco’s active economic diplomacy has also enabled it to strengthen South-South cooperation. The mega-project to build a transnational submarine gas pipeline that was the subject of an agreement signed between Morocco and Nigeria in 2017 is an example. The kingdom has also worked to strengthen its position as a gateway to Africa thanks to its National Port Strategy 2030, highlighting the port of Tanger Med which aims to become a logistics hub. Due to the Al-Haouz earthquake, Morocco’s economic growth could decline over the next three years, according to the World Bank.