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Moroccan industry is “doing well” and has recovered from the COVID-19 crisis, Minister of Industry Moulay Hafid Elalamy said Wednesday.
“In August 2020, all [industrial] sectors recorded higher growths than the rates recorded during the same period in 2019, except for the aeronautics sector which witnessed a 14% decrease,” Elalamy said.
According to the minister, Moroccan industry returned to its normal level in July and began exceeding the monthly growth rates recorded in 2019.
The sector’s recovery, however, will not make up for the months of low activity due to the nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, Elalamy said. The annual growth of Morocco’s industrial sector in 2020 will be lower than the figure recorded in 2019.
Elalamy made a presentation about Moroccan industry and its resilience to the COVID-19 crisis during the 94th Carrefour Diplomatique meeting.
Moroccan NGO La Fondation Diplomatique hosts the sessions to regularly bring together senior Moroccan officials and foreign ambassadors in Morocco to discuss the country’s social, political, and economic scene.
During the recent meeting, Elalamy presented Morocco’s industrial strategy that allows the achievement of concrete results.
“The sustainability of the national industrial strategy not only helps preserve the strategy but also adjust it as government change, without impacting its efficiency,” he explained.
The industry minister gave the example of the automotive sector, which now represents a major part of Moroccan industry.
Elalamy said that Morocco’s automotive sector has surpassed all expectations thanks to the country’s industrial strategy.
Read also: Automotive: Morocco to Produce Up to 1 Million Vehicles Per Year by 2030
He recalled that Morocco set the objective of creating 500,000 new jobs in the automotive sector and producing 600,000 vehicles per year by 2023. The country, however, was able to exceed the objectives by the end of 2019, four years earlier than planned.
In 2019, the automotive sector employed 505,000 people in Morocco and produced 700,000 vehicles.
The country’s industrial strategy is completely reshaping the fabric of Moroccan industry, Elalamy said. He explained that Morocco’s automotive sector became the leader in Moroccan exports in recent years, overtaking the phosphates industry.
The 94th session of Carrefour Diplomatique took place in Rabat with the participation of 50 foreign ambassadors, including 12 who physically attended the meeting and 38 who joined via videoconference.
The meeting allowed foreign diplomatic missions in Morocco to learn about the country’s industrial sector and discuss ways to contribute to the sector’s development.
