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Rabat – Morocco is one of Africa’s most important economic hubs, accounting for the majority of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the continent, according to the Attractiveness Program Africa conducted by professional services firm Ernst & Young.
Morocco accounted for 19.2 percentage share of the jobs created by FDI in Africa in 2016. The Kingdom was followed by Egypt with 11.7 percent of FDI-created jobs, South Africa at 14.2 percent, Nigeria at 4.9 percent and Kenya at 1.5 percent last year.
Morocco was ranked the second most FDI-attractive destination in 2016 with 12 percent of FDI projects initiated in Africa in 2016. It was proceeded by South Africa, which accounted for 20.6 percent of FDI projects and followed by Egypt at 11.7 percent, Nigeria at 7.5 percent and Kenya at 5.9 percent.
Collectively, the five hub economies attracted 58 percent of the continent’s total FDI projects in 2016, due to their mature markets and investor-oriented strategies, says the report.
The report adds that “aided by a stable administration, even during the Arab Spring, Morocco has increasingly marketed itself as an export base for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
The country’s automotive sector has especially attracted investor interest, with FDI projects increasing from 5 in 2014 and 10 in 2015 to 14 in 2016.”
The report explained that the US is Africa’s leading investor, accounting for 13.5 percent projects in the continent in 2016. American investors established 14 projects in Morocco in 2016.
Meanwhile, France, which is the second largest investor in Africa, considers Morocco its “favorite destination for FDI, with 27.2 percent of French projects initiated in Africa were located in Morocco in 2016.”
In 2017, Morocco ranked the first in Ernest and Young’s AAL, a tool created in 2016 to measure countries’ resilience in the face of changing economies. It was followed by Kenya and South Africa.
As to intra-African investment, Morocco was “more prominent in 2016,” with 17 intra-regional projects, the highest in over a decade, explains the report.
“This fits in with a broader attempt by Morocco to diversify its economy away from an over-reliance on Europe, including rejoining the African Union in January 2017, after an absence of more than three decades. [Fourteen of] Morocco’s largest banks have made a strong push south over the past decade.”
