The Kingdom’s trajectory over the past 25 years has been marked by “an ambitious modernization program, greater sustainability and entry into global value chains, despite socio-economic challenges,” reads the analysis by economist Alexandre Kateb.
Thanks to this forward-looking vision, Morocco is now part of global value chains, a breakthrough that has allowed the Kingdom to further stimulate the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) and establish an export-oriented industry, notes the Washington-based think tank.
Referring to the progress made by the Kingdom on the socio-economic level, the analyst notes that between 1998 and 2023, the average life expectancy in Morocco reached around 75 years, at a time when per capita income and the length of schooling almost doubled. Similarly, the absolute poverty rate has decreased considerably to 1.7%, while the rate of electrification and connection to drinking water is 100% in rural areas, notes the same source.
Highlighting the large-scale infrastructure set up in different regions of the Kingdom, the think tank cites in particular the Tangier-Med port, “the largest container platform in the Mediterranean”, and the first high-speed train in Africa, adding that Morocco also stands out as “the continent’s leading producer and exporter of cars, far ahead of South Africa”.
Thanks to these cutting-edge projects, “the country’s air transport, roads and ports now meet the standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)”, continues the author of the analysis.
Addressing Morocco’s African vocation, the economist notes that the Kingdom has, since the beginning of the millennium, made a “shift towards sub-Saharan Africa”, while managing to position itself “as a global connector in an increasingly multipolar geopolitical landscape”.
Since its return in 2017 to the African Union, its institutional family, the author continues, Morocco has made “significant investments” in Africa in a myriad of sectors, ranging from banking to insurance, and from telecommunications to construction, both in the countries of the Atlantic coast and in the Sahel and as far as the Congo River basin.
In this context, the American research center mentions the Atlantic Initiative recently launched by His Majesty the King, with the aim of allowing the Sahel countries to have access to the Atlantic Ocean, noting that this judicious approach is capable of “promoting sustainable economic relations between twenty-three countries located along the Atlantic coast of Africa”.
On the geopolitical side, Alexandre Kateb notes that Morocco, while maintaining excellent relations with the United States and the European Union, has succeeded in diversifying its partners, consolidating, since 2006, its links with China, recalling in particular the signing in 2022 of an agreement relating to the Belt and Road initiative.
Renewable energy is not left behind, maintains the analyst, who recalls that Morocco has undertaken a transition towards a more sustainable growth model since 2009 with the adoption of the National Energy Transition Strategy.
In this regard, the Kingdom has set itself the goal of reaching 52% of renewable energy in its energy mix by 2030, thanks in particular to the Noor station, the analysis notes, noting that in 2023 already, renewable energy sources represented 37% of the electricity production capacity.
2024-09-23 04:56:54