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Morocco’s External Debt Soars to 75% of GDP, Outpacing Foreign Investment: Bloomberg Report
Tuesday 30 July 2019, by
In a Report published on the level of external debt in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, Bloomberg, the news agency specializing in economics and finance, takes a look at the situation of Morocco’s external debt. The study reveals that the Kingdom is more dependent on foreign borrowing than on FDI, a decade ago, and is "unable to repay its accumulated external debt".
In the space of 10 years, Morocco’s external debt has seen a leap, from 65% to 75% of GDP, the Bloomberg Report, relayed by hespress, reveals. This leap has obviously had repercussions on the Kingdom’s growth rate.
Conversely, the Report establishes that Morocco, like Jordan, has experienced more stability on the domestic front over the past ten years. These two countries, far apart, have "initially benefited from the situation in Tunisia and Egypt to attract more investors fleeing instability".
However, not everything is rosy for Morocco. The study also shows that the broader regional and global contexts have hit Morocco hard. Indeed, the slowdown in the level of economic activity, internationally, and the recession in the euro zone "have exposed a number of financial, economic and structural shortcomings in Morocco".
To reverse the trend, the Bloomberg Report suggests that the Kingdom "target domestic investment in traditional sectors likely to generate growth, job creation and possibly a reduction in dependence on certain imports" because "it may be very difficult to rely solely on export development or FDI" in the current global economic climate.