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Rabat – For the majority of CEOs interviewed by the HCP on the growth prospects in production and employment in the industrial and construction sectors, the Moroccan industrial hub is witnessing promising stability.
The order books of the processing industry sector are considered normal by 70 percent of the heads of enterprises, according to the results of the latest survey conducted by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) for the second quarter of 2017. The production capacity utilization rate (UCS) in this sector was of 75 percent, at a time when production increased by 43 percent in the industries mentioned in the same survey.
This development, the HCP noted, was the result of an increase in production in the branches of the chemical, automobile, and the food industries, as well as a fall in production in the branches of metallurgy.
The extractive industry appears to be less dynamic than the manufacturing sector, with a UCS set at 66 percent during the same period. According to the HCP, the production of this sector had displayed an increase, according to 89 percent of the interviewed CEOs. As for the order books, more than 95 percent of the heads of companies judge them at a normal level.
In the energy industry, the UCS was set at 87 percent in Q2FY17. The output of this sector increased by 87 percent according to the surveyed CEOs. For the environmental industry, the HCP noted a 66 percent UCS rate and an 81 percent increase in the number of entrepreneurs, due to a sustained growth in the water capture, treatment, and distribution activity.
Order books are nevertheless considered normal by all CEOs in the energy sector and below 73 percent by those in the environmental industry.
Concerning the construction sector, 50 percent of the bosses questioned by the HCP believe that activity has been stable throughout the same period. According to them, this stability is mainly due to a decline in activity in the building construction and civil engineering sectors, as well as the increase of activity in the specialized construction sector. Order books are judged to be at a normal level by 60 percent of construction professionals.
The HCP survey also looked at the expectations of business leaders across all sectors. For example, in the manufacturing sector, 39 percent of employers expect production to stagnate in the third quarter of 2017, while only 30 percent expect an increase.
As for employment, half of the operators predict a stagnation in the workforce. With regard to the extractive industry, the majority of the heads of companies envisage an increase in production, due to an improvement in the production of phosphates.
Energy production is projected to increase by 91 percent due to increased production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning. Production is also expected to grow in 82 percent of industrial companies, particularly in the water capture, treatment, and distribution activities. Employment is expected to increase according to almost all energy sector owners, while 73 percent of business leaders in the environmental sector expect it to decline.
For the construction sector, the expectations advanced in the 3rd quarter generally show a stability of the activity according to 59 percent of the heads of companies. This development was due to the increase in activity in the branches of specialized construction, and the decline in civil engineering activity. It would be accompanied, according to nearly 76 percent of the heads of companies, by a stability of the employed workforce, concludes the HCP’s note.
