Morocco’s Missed Opportunity: Diaspora Investment Stalls Amid Government Inaction

The Moroccan government does not know how to take advantage of Moroccans living abroad (MRE), which annoys some deputies. According to Abdelhak Amghar, from the socialist - Ittihadie opposition group, MRE transfers have reached 117 billion dirhams, but only 10% of these funds are directed towards investment. He pointed out the lack of implementation of the royal guidelines contained in several royal speeches on supporting and encouraging Moroccans living abroad to invest in their country. According to him, the responses of the minister in charge of investment are no longer convincing, neither inside nor outside.

According to Amghar, this failure of the government is explained by the persistence of "complications in administrative procedures". The investor "gets lost" between the administrations, he said. He also points to "the lack of direct air links, particularly from the province of Al Hoceima, which, according to him, suffers from the lack of major and direct flights to Spain, France and Germany, not to mention the dizzying increase in ticket prices, particularly to the Netherlands and Belgium". "Is it in these conditions that we will encourage Moroccans living abroad to invest in their country?" questioned the elected official.

According to the deputy Omar El Baz, from the Haraki group, the reality shows that the volume of investments does not have the expected effect on employment, although investment, whether national or foreign, is the main way to fight unemployment. "Although what we hear from the National Investment Committee gives some hope, the high financial cost of projects is not reflected in the reality of employment in our country. The requirement has always been territorial justice in the distribution of investments," he said. El Baz therefore calls for working towards the territorial empowerment of young people, accompanied by employment opportunities.

For her part, the deputy of the Haraki group, Aziza Boujrida, stressed the need to increase the contribution of the Moroccan diaspora to national investments, which currently does not exceed 10%, according to her. She called for the creation of a national agency to support the investments of Moroccans living abroad. She also insisted on the need to listen to Moroccans living abroad and simplify administrative procedures. The deputy of the Authenticity and Modernity group, Aziz Lebbar, agrees: he called for "accelerating the simplification of administrative procedures instead of dragging them out and giving priority to serious people and Moroccans living abroad in particular, in order to apply the royal instructions".

The Istiqlali group for unity and egalitarianism agrees with the previous groups. The government programs have no impact on high unemployment rates or the creation of job opportunities, it said, while acknowledging the existence of problems in the implementation of these programs and investments on the ground, as well as problems of convergence between the ministries. As an illustration, it mentions the situation of the city of Tetouan. It suffers from a lack of job creation opportunities, especially for young people.