Rabat – Around 34% of Moroccan business owners foresee an improvement in market conditions in the upcoming three months, according to a monthly survey from the country’s central bank Bank Al-Maghrib.
The survey, conducted in November, shows that industrialists anticipate an improvement in production and sales across all sectors except ‘agro-food,’ where they expect a drop in production and stagnating sales.
Meanwhile, a quarter of surveyed businesses said that they expect production to stagnate and almost a third expect sales to stagnate as well.
The market remains cautiously optimistic as one in five companies has said that future prospects of growth are cloaked with uncertainty.
The optimism is likely the result of improved operations over the past three months. The survey results detail that approximately 46% of businesses reported strong growth in sales, while 35% said that sales have stagnated and 19% said that sales have dipped.
Based on the survey results, BAM has reported that the Capacity Utilization Rate (CUR) – a measure of how much the economy produces against how much it can potentially produce – stabilized at 76%.
BAM further detailed that national production has overall risen, propelled by the increase in the “chemical and para-chemical” and “mechanical and metallurgical” sectors.
Other sectors’ performance has been less marked, with the textile and leather, and agro-food industries witnessing stagnating production and the electrical and electronics sector seeing a drop in production.
In November 2023, agri-food production in Morocco remained stagnant, with a Capacity Utilization Rate (TUC) at 67%, the lowest across the board.
Sales within the sector equally dipped in the local market while it increased in foreign shipments. Orders have equally decreased, with a backlog below business-as-usual levels.
For the next three months, business owners in the sector anticipate production to dip even further and sales to plateau.
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