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Join on Telegram Rabat – Corruption costs Morocco two percent of its economic growth annually, said Lahcen Daoudi, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of General Affairs and Governance on Thursday.
“We are determined in our fight against corruption that costs Morocco’s economy a two percent annual loss,” he told Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) during the closing of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The forum’s theme, “Reinforcing Business Integrity in Morocco,” aims to raise awareness about the importance of finding means to eradicate corruption in Morocco through new programs with the help of private sector companies.
The president of OECD in the MENA region, Nicole Illerman, said that the forum is based on OECD’s program devoted to strengthening integrity in the Moroccan business sectors.
The OECD organization’s country program for Morocco was signed on 15 June 2015. Morocco will consider strengthening its strategic partnership with OECD to become the first country in the MENA region to benefit from an OECD Country Program.
The MENA-OECD Initiative covers Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
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Morocco’s fight against corruption
In July 2017, the US State Department released a report identifying corruption and ineffective management as Morocco’s biggest concerns that hamper its economic growth. The report emphasized that the country’s development plans and efforts are considerably limited by corruption and inefficient management.
In July 2018, Head of Government Saad Eddine El Othmani said that that corruption wastes approximately seven percent of Morocco’s GDP every year, suggesting that the most effective way to deal with Morocco’s enduring economic and social problems is to fight corruption in public administration.
One of Morocco’s most recent anti-corruption initiatives include the anti-corruption hotline launched in May 14. In the same month, the Public Prosecution Office in the Ministry of Justice reported that it had registered 599 calls from witnesses reporting different forms of corruption.
The initiative comes in line with the government’s national plan to end all forms of corruption by 2050.
Morocco improved slightly in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index in 2017, compared to 2016, owing to the government’s efforts to counter administrative corruption, abuse of power, and public funds mismanagement.
