Standard & Poor’s Maintains Morocco’s Investment Grade Rating Despite Pandemic Impact

According to L’Économiste, "Morocco maintains its Investment Grade (BBB) in the difficult context of the health crisis, while maintaining stable prospects". Better, "the unfavorable economic and budgetary impact of the covid-19 pandemic will be brought under control without permanently and structurally damaging the credit parameters," reassures the newspaper.

The consequences generated by the pandemic have led some economists to fear an economic recession for this year 2020. But the rating agency sees a recovery in activity during the second half of the year, even if for that, "the authorities must continue the structural economic and budgetary reforms to allow an improvement in economic and budgetary performance and a gradual reduction in the current account deficit".

But pending such a scenario, L’Économiste notes that "the budget deficit would deepen to 5.2% of GDP at the end of 2020 and that net public debt would reach 55.4% before an improvement in the situation, with the economic rebound expected by S&P in 2021". The improvement in performance in the non-agricultural sectors and the resilience of the agricultural sector, the restoration of the business environment and external demand will be the main elements of this long-awaited recovery.