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Rabat – The Moroccan Minister of Industry Moulay Hafid Elalamy declared on Tuesday that the economic recovery in Morocco post-COVID-19 activity suspensions will be faster than was expected a month ago.
The minister made the announcement before the Productive Sectors Commission at the House of Representatives on June 9. The meeting took place to study five requests by parliamentary groups concerning the department’s strategy.
Based on indicators by Standard & Poor’s, Elalamy revealed that Moroccan markets are claiming back their pre-COVID-19 position, noting a decrease of 20% on industrial transactions, against the 30% that was expected in May.
Regarding the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on Moroccan economic activity, Elalamy revealed an overall decline of 20%, compared to April 2019.
Elalamy recalled that Moroccan car manufacturers resumed their industrial activities “thanks to the kingdom’s strong competitiveness in this area,” while most car factories were forced to remain closed in other parts of the world.
The minister added that the first car manufacturers who resumed activities worldwide were those in Morocco.
The Moroccan official said that the first phase in the fight against COVID-19 concerned the safety of Moroccan citizens, while the second focused on companies’ survival and the resumption of economic activity, highlighting the work of the Economic Monitoring Committee (CVE).
The minister said that the state of health emergency has highlighted many Moroccan strengths, as well as the country’s capacity to adapt to crises. He said this manifested in the “hard work” of Moroccan companies and institutes in several fields, namely food industry operators that have been able to maintain supply to the market throughout the crisis.
Elalamy went on to comment on the COVID-19 hotspots discovered in industrial units, saying that these could not have originated in factories given the strict measures they were required to implement.
In numbers, the infections revealed by screening tests conducted in 52% of factories accounted for 0.6% of the country’s COVID-19 cases, the minister said. He added that the General Confederation of Moroccan Companies conducted 17,000 tests, identifying one positive case.
Elalamy also revealed that the infection rate in Morocco’s factories is ten times lower than the national average.
