Turkish Retailer BIM Defends Moroccan Operations Amid Government Criticism

"We only send about 15% of our products sold in Morocco from Turkey," BIM’s CFO, Haluk Dortluoglu, told Reuters, stating that "the remaining 85% is purchased from local merchants." Also, he said that BIM employs some 3,000 people in Morocco, "the vast majority of whom are Moroccan nationals," and the 500 stores of the brand in the kingdom generate "about 5% of the company’s total revenue."

This statement follows the requirement, made to the discount store, by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Green and Digital Economy, Moulay Hafid Elalamy. He summoned the company to market at least 50% Moroccan products. Failing that, he asks it to close its stores.

Speaking on the subject before the deputies of the House of Representatives on February 10, the minister said he had met with BIM’s CFO. "I told him that it is impossible to continue our relations," [in this vein], he hinted.

MHE’s intervention comes in a context marked by the revision of the Free Trade Agreement between Morocco and Turkey. An agreement which, according to the Moroccan authorities, is far from being profitable for the kingdom.