Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
Rabat – The World Bank forecasts a 4% growth in Morocco’s economy this year thanks to an increase in agricultural production.
Moroccan state media reported the World Bank’s forecast on January 10, saying that Morocco will record a growth of 4% thanks to agriculture after a rough season due to drought.
The World Bank also predicts 3.7% economic growth in Morocco in 2022.
The 2019-2020 agriculture season experienced lack of rainfalls, which impacted the country’s cereal and agriculture production.
Morocco’s production of the three main cereals for the 2019-2020 season stood at 32 million. The number showed a decrease of 39% compared to the previous season.
2020 was an average year for production, with 52 million quintals, the Ministry of Agriculture announced on Wednesday.
The campaign is also down by 57% compared to an average year under the ministry’s signature Green Morocco Plan.
The statistics from the World Bank are in sync with earlier estimates by Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP). Earlier this week, the HCP said it expected the Moroccan economy to grow by 0.5% during the first quarter of 2021.
Business forecast in MENA
Economic activities in the Middle East and North Africa are projected to show a “modest recovery” of 2.1% in 2021 due to damages caused by COVID-19 and low oil prices, the HCP found.
These prospects count on the control of COVID-19, the stabilization of oil prices, the absence of any escalation of geopolitical tensions and the development of anti-COVID vaccines in the second half of the year.
The projections are also based on the assumption that the situation will improve over a two-year period and forecasts that economic output will be still 8% below the level indicated by pre-COVID-19 estimates.
According to the World Bank, the growth rate of oil-importing countries is expected to reach 3.2 % in 2021 due to the gradual easing of travel restrictions and the slow recovery in domestic demand.
For oil exporting countries, the growth rate is expected to reach 1.8% in 2021 thanks to the normalization of oil demand and the expected easing of OPEC + oil reduction quotas, as well as the gradual elimination of restrictions countries imposed to combat the pandemic.
