Publication: Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025: Prioritizing Reforms to Boost the Business Environment
Loading...
Other Files
101 downloads
29 downloads
43 downloads
Published
2025-04-03
ISSN
Date
2025-04-03
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Despite the drought causing a modest deceleration of overall GDP growth to 3.2 percent, the Moroccan economy has exhibited some encouraging trends in 2024. Non-agricultural growth has accelerated to an estimated 3.8 percent, driven by a revitalized industrial sector and a rebound in gross capital formation. Inflation has dropped below 1 percent, allowing Bank al-Maghrib to begin easing its monetary policy. While rural labor markets remain depressed, the economy has added close to 162,000 jobs in urban areas. Morocco’s external position remains strong overall, with a moderate current account deficit largely financed by growing foreign direct investment inflows, underpinned by solid investor confidence indicators. Despite significant spending pressures, the debt-to-GDP ratio is slowly declining.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“World Bank. 2025. Morocco Economic Update, Winter 2025: Prioritizing Reforms to Boost the Business Environment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/43015 License: CC BY-NC 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Morocco Economic Monitor, July 2020(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-07)This report presents the current outlook for Morocco given the recent Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) developments. The COVID-19 shock is, however, abruptly pushing the economy into a severe recession, the first one since 1995. The labor market is facing a shock of historical proportion, with vulnerable workers, including those in the informal sector being particularly affected. The government’s response to date has been swift and decisive. The proactive response has enabled the country to avoid a massive outbreak, thus saving lives. The post-pandemic economic recovery is projected - with unusually large uncertainty - to be a protracted one, with growth only returning to the pre-pandemic trend by 2022. Faced with the risk of a protracted pandemic, moving from mitigation to an adaptation phase is key to ensuring a resilient, inclusive, and growing Moroccan economy. Despite potential volatility in the economic recovery phase, Morocco has an opportunity to build a more sustainable and resilient economy by developing a strategy to adapt, similar to its approach to the environment front.Publication Morocco Economic Monitor, Fall 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-11-20)The Moroccan economy is recovering. Following a sharp deceleration in 2022 caused by various overlapping commodity and climatic shocks, economic growth increased to 2.9 percent in the first semester of 2023, driven primarily by services and net exports. Inflation has halved between February and August 2023, but food inflation remains high. Lower commodity prices havealso contributed to a temporary narrowing of the current account deficit. The response to recent crises and the unfolding reform of the health and social protection systems are exerting pressures on public spending. However, the government is managing to gradually reduce the budget deficit.Publication Morocco Economic Monitor, Summer 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-07-17)This report includes a special focus chapter focused on the dynamics of the Moroccan private sector. It is based on the results of an analysis jointly conducted with the Moroccan Observatory of Small and Medium Enterprises (OMTPME) which exploits a comprehensive database on formal firms. The productivity performance of the private sector has been lackluster, primarily due to a worsening of allocative efficiency. Larger firms tend to exhibit a lower productivity than their smaller peers, suggesting that markets are not sufficiently rewarding more efficient and innovative firms. In addition, Moroccan SMEs struggle to grow, and the density of High Growth Firms remains very low. This is problematic feature of the private sector given that in other settings such firms have been shown to disproportionately contribute to job creation. Addressing the constraints facing the private sector would help overcome the disappointing job creation capacity that the Moroccan economy has exhibited in recent years.Publication Algeria Economic Update, Spring 2025(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-06-20)Algeria’s economic growth remained robust in 2024 but is expected to slow moderately in 2025. Strong investment momentum and robust growth in household consumption, both fueled by government spending, supported manufacturing and services activity, while agricultural production accelerated. However, growth in domestic demand boosted imports, which, combined with lower hydrocarbon production and exports, weighed on growth. Overall, non-hydrocarbon GDP grew at a pace of 4.8 percent, offsetting the 1.4 percent contraction in GDP from hydrocarbons. Real GDP growth is projected at 3.3 percent in 2025, driven by the rebound in growth in the hydrocarbon sectors (+1.6 percent), boosted by the recovery of OPEC production quotas and gas production. Non-hydrocarbon growth is expected to slow (+3.6 percent), driven by the expected consolidation of public spending, which would be more marked for investment. Agricultural production is expected to remain robust despite limited rainfall, offsetting the slowdown in industry and services. The analysis of productivity trends in different sectors offers avenues for reflection to accelerate the structural transformation of the Algerian economy. The public-spending-led growth model resulted in important economic and social achievements in the 2000s, before slowing down in the last decade as the pace of spending growth became unsustainable. In doing so, this growth model has steered employment to low-value-added sectors, including non-commercial services and construction. In addition, a comparative analysis of Algerian productivity suggests a heterogeneous performance, with strong momentum in the agricultural sector contrasting with limited gains in the manufacturing sector. Thus, a growth acceleration could be achieved by increasing productivity gains in the manufacturing and services sectors, on the one hand, and a gradual reallocation of employment to high-value-added sectors on the other, combined with a gradual rebalancing of public spending. Such an economic transformation calls for targeted cross-cutting and sectoral policies to support growth and jobs in the private sector, while equipping workers with the necessary skills.Publication Republic of Congo Economic Update, 10th Edition, June 2023(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-06-26)This is the tenth edition of the Republic of Congo Economic Update. Each edition of this annual report presents an overview of the Republic of Congo’s (ROC) evolving macroeconomic position, followed by a detailed exploration of a specific topic. The first chapter of this year’s update presents recent economic developments and macroeconomic outlook and risks. It also includes policy actions that could help strengthen fiscal and debt sustainability, contain food inflation, and sustain economic recovery. The second chapter discusses fossil fuel subsidies, which represent a significant fiscal burden in the Republic of Congo.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Europe and Central Asia Economic Update, Spring 2025: Accelerating Growth through Entrepreneurship, Technology Adoption, and Innovation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-04-23)Business dynamism and economic growth in Europe and Central Asia have weakened since the late 2000s, with productivity growth driven largely by resource reallocation between firms and sectors rather than innovation. To move up the value chain, countries need to facilitate technology adoption, stronger domestic competition, and firm-level innovation to build a more dynamic private sector. Governments should move beyond broad support for small- and medium-sized enterprises and focus on enabling the most productive firms to expand and compete globally. Strengthening competition policies, reducing the presence of state-owned enterprises, and ensuring fair market access are crucial. Limited availability of long-term financing and risk capital hinders firm growth and innovation. Economic disruptions are a shock in the short term, but they provide an opportunity for implementing enterprise and structural reforms, all of which are essential for creating better-paying jobs and helping countries in the region to achieve high-income status.