FOM Newsletter August 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 August 4,  2001

Starting next September, the mail in Morocco will be delivered by postwomen after the first class graduated last week. The first class, comprising 68 postwomen holders of the baccalaureate, will be working in 16 cities. They undertook a theoretical and practical training on various post operations. Women account for 22% of Barid Al-Maghrib (the Moroccan post authority) 5,000-strong staff.

Rabat - The weekly cabinet council held on Thursday was briefed on higher education forecasts for 2010-2011 after minister of higher education and scientific research, Najib Zerouali, presented findings of updated studies on the sector. The number of students who will sit for the Baccalaureate exam are estimated to be ranging between 370,000 and 476,000, compared to 260,000 presently, while graduates of universities and higher institutes will be between 160,000 and 190,000 against 27,000 presently. The minister stressed that in light of these forecasts, it is necessary to identify investments and educational needs to tally the expected progression in terms of quality and quantity.

RABAT, Morocco In an address to mark two years on the throne, King Mohammed VI on Monday stressed the need for clean politics, a modern democratic state and a royal institute to take account of cultural claims by Berbers. The king said the institute would work toward integrating the Berber language of Tamazight into public education, which the Berbers have long sought. The country, he said, has a plural identity drawing from different streams: Berber, Arab, sub-Saharan African and Andalusian.

Morocco's government disburses us$ 272,700 in aid to disabled-persons associations.

Morocco's minister in charge of women condition, family and children protection and integration of handicapped persons, Nouzha Chekrouni, handed on Friday to 47 associations active in issues of disabled persons, three million DH (US$ 272,700) in assistance to their training and employment activities. She explained that recipient projects were selected after a special commission conducted the needed studies and added that the ministry will be controlling the usage of these funds. She went on that the funds, fairly shared among Morocco's regions, including rural areas will go to various services of disabled children education, professional integration of handicapped adults, in addition to vocational training and prevention of disabilities.

UNDP extends four Moroccan associations $ 168,791 for protection of humid areas.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has extended four Moroccan associations US$ 168,791 to help them in their efforts to protect biodiversity in 25 Moroccan humid sites. The 25 sites selected for the richness of their ecosystems are part of sites presenting national and international biologic and ecological interests.

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (AFP) - Morocco needs to accelerate economic growth to reduce poverty and unemployment, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in its annual review of the Moroccan economy. "To achieve this objective," said the report issued Thursday, IMF directors "considered that macroeconomic policies will need to be tightened and structural reforms accelerated." The IMF, however, commended Morocco "for achieving macroeconomic stability, as evidenced by the comfortable external position and the maintenance of inflation at industrial countries' level, despite adverse weather conditions and terms of trade developments." The privatization of Maroc Telecom for 2.1 billion dollars (six percent of GDP) during the first quarter of 2001 did a lot to brighten economic prospects, the IMF said. "This privatization process was open and transparent, and the price obtained substantially exceeded expectations, considering the downturn in the world telecommunication market," it stressed. "Better rainfall ... should lead to a 25 percent increase in agricultural output in 2001 with favorable spillovers on other sectors," the IMF added. "Real GDP growth is projected at six percent in 2001.  

Nonagricultural output is expected to increase by 3.8 percent driven by construction activity, telecommunications, and tourism," it added. Inflation should increase slightly to 3.0 percent in 2001, up from 1.9 percent in 2000 largely on account of the April devaluation of the dirham and the fiscal deficit is now projected to reach 7.2 percent of GDP, up from 6.5 percent last year, the report said. The IMF report warned against Morocco's increasing budget deficit excluding revenue from privatization. It agreed "that the fiscal stance could be placed on an unsustainable path unless measures are taken to bring the fiscal position more in line with the authorities' medium-term objectives." The report welcomed Morocco's determination to set the overall deficit target for 2002 at 3.0 percent of GDP, including privatization proceeds and stressed "the importance of strict adherence to this target and of further deficit reductions over the medium term." Some directors also "encouraged the authorities to envisage broadening the coverage of the value-added tax in order to offset future declines in custom revenues." They also stressed that the Central Bank of Morocco "should be ready to tighten monetary policy in response to any sign of inflationary pressures." "They urged the authorities to address promptly the nonperforming loans of two public banks and ensure their full capitalization," the IMF report said.

WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said economic reforms in Morocco were paying off despite a recent severe drought, but that challenges such as reducing poverty, unemployment and the fiscal deficit still lay ahead for the North African nation. The Washington-based lender said that Morocco's deficit, which reached 4.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product in fiscal 1999-2000, should be dealt with before it becomes unsustainable. The fund welcomed the government's plan to lower the deficit to three percent of GDP in 2002. The deficit widened in part because of spending related to a drought that has plagued the country two years in a row. These weather conditions led to economic stagnation, as agricultural production contracted by 17 percent and economic growth was limited, the fund said. Growth was at 0.3 percent last year after recording a negative 0.7 percent in 1999, the IMF said, adding that the economic reforms put in place in the past five years were "beginning to yield tangible results."

The fund said that productivity, tourism and foreign investment had recently increased. Inflation remained in check and in line with that of major industrialized nations. Consumer prices rose 1.9 percent in 2000, up from 0.7 percent in 1999, according to the fund. Inflation data through May of this year continue to indicate price stability, the lender said.

The fund added that economic prospects for the first three months of the year brightened with the privatization of roughly one-third of Maroc Telecom for $2.1 billion -- or six percent of GDP. The IMF, however, said that to make growth strong enough to tackle unemployment and poverty, Morocco would have to meet a number of challenges including tightening economic policies and implementing a number of structural reforms. Although it agreed that the recent loosening of monetary and fiscal policies did not threaten the economy's stability in the foreseeable future, the fund said that the country's central bank should be ready to tighten monetary policy if signs of inflationary pressure manifested themselves. The Moroccan central bank relaxed monetary policy late in 2000 in response to tightening in bank liquidity due to budget arrears. It further said that Morocco should consider options for price liberalization in the agricultural sector, which could help refocus incentives on "a cropping pattern better suited to Morocco's climatic conditions." This should also be supported by the lifting of trade barriers in agricultural exports, the IMF said. The fund welcomed the strong performance of Moroccan private banks, the recent trade liberalization, achieved through the Association Agreement with the European Union, and a set of reforms aimed at boosting investment.  

(Mark Wilkinson, Washington newsroom 202 898 8322, fax 202 898 8383, email Washington.bureau.newsroom@reuters.com)

Morocco's Central Bank Announces End of Transactions in European Currencies in 2002.

RABAT- Bank Al-Maghrib, Moroccan central bank, announced that it will stop all transactions in the European currencies starting next January 1st, 2002. The exchange rates published daily by the bank will also no longer include the national currencies which will be replaced by the European single currency, the Euro. Almost all European national currencies will disappear as the Euro is adopted, except for the currencies of Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland which will continue to appear on the Bank's exchange rates list.

TANGIERS, Morocco, August 03 -- The Moroccan government and two groups operating in supermarkets have signed on Wednesday, an investment agreement worth about $ 147.82 million. The two groups, namely Moroccan ONA and French Auchan, will construct eight malls and 25 trade shops in various regions of Morocco. The investment will generate 3,500 direct jobs and 2,000 indirect jobs. The Prime minister also laid the foundation stone for the building of a 2,500 square meter-Marjane hypermarket for an investment worth about $17.39 million. - Morocco Today

RABAT- The British government has chosen Morocco as one of fourteen target markets worldwide for a special three-year campaign of trade development. "The Moroccan economy continues to liberalize and the free-trade zone foreseen by the EU-Morocco association agreement becomes a reality, Moroccan and British private sectors ought to be profiting from closer links", says British general Consul in Casablanca. "Morocco is the only country in the Maghreb and the only Francophone country in Africa to be selected as a target market. That shows the importance the British government attaches to the commercial relationship between our two countries", he added. The UK is Morocco's 3rd largest export market and 6th largest import market. In 2000, UK exports to Morocco totaled 6.7 billion Dirhams while imports were worth 7.7 billion DH. Bilateral trade tripled during the 1990s and in 2000, Moroccan exports to the UK increased by 18% and imports increased by 15%, compared to 1999.

RABAT, Aug 3 (Reuters) - A leading Moroccan politician has called for an inquiry into government involvement in torture and deaths of opposition activists in the 1970s. "In Morocco's dark years, violence and torture were systematic methods in police stations and secret detention centres," Ahmed Bendjelloun told the weekly Assahifa in an interview released on Friday. Human rights groups say security authorities have opened several secret torture and detention "dungeons" from the 1960s. The most notorious is Dar El Moqri in Rabat, which was the residence of a wealthy Moroccan family before it was converted. "While in detention in the 1970s, I heard of mass graves near orange trees at Dar El Moqri," Bendjelloun, a prominent lawyer in his late 50's and leading figure of leftist Avant-Guard Democratic and Socialist Party, said. His remarks will fuel a current controversial debate on police repression and illegal detention under the 38-year iron-fist regime of the late King Hassan. "I was savagely tortured for weeks in the presence of (General Mohammed) Oufkir and Mohamed Achaachi and other police officers," Bendjelloun said. Oufkir was King Hassan's right-hand man and powerful interior minister and Achaachi was a senior police officer in charge of "counter-subversive" operations to track down leftist activists and trade union leaders. "The torture was not exercised on us to extract information but to demonstrate the absolute power of the Makhzen and rulers," Bendjelloun added. The Makhzen is a hierarchy of powerful courtiers and military officers that operates parallel to the government and is widely thought to be behind important decisions. "All this needs a global inquiry to shed the light on all those who were responsible for the crimes committed at that time,"Bendjelloun said.

(Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com)

RABAT, July 26 (Reuters) - Road accidents in Morocco last year caused losses worth 8.0 billion dirhams ($690 million), or 2.3 percent of Gross Domestic Product, a Transport Ministry official said on Thursday. The North African country has one of the highest road accident rates in the world, with poor roads and bad driving cited as leading causes. Last year's losses were little changed from 1999 but the number of deaths rose by 6.9 percent to 3,627. About 75,000 others were hurt. "The slaughter unfortunately continues, with at least 10 people killed every day in road accidents," the official said. The official, quoting a report by the National Committee for Road Accidents Prevention, said reckless driving caused more than 40 percent of accidents, while speeding was to blame for nearly 10 percent. ($1=11.605 Moroccan dirhams)

(Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com)

MONTREAL- After several years of lobbying and contacts with Quebec's authorities, the Muslim association of North-Montreal, comprising mostly Moroccans settled here, said it has obtained the license to build a minaret for the Nour-El Islam mosque. The seven-meter minaret will be the first ever in Montreal and will be designed according to Moroccan traditional architecture. Works are scheduled to be completed by next October at the latest. In addition to building the minaret, the association also plans to conduct various restoration works, including an arches outer wall. The project, estimated at 50,000 Canadian dollars, will be financed through fund-raising among the Muslim community.

Motorola and Maroc Telecom Sign $47 Million Contract to Supply GSMNetwork Infrastructure in Morocco.

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill., Aug 1, 2001 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Motorola's Global Telecom Solutions Sector, one of the world's leading suppliers of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) digital wireless solutions, has signed a $47 million network infrastructure expansion deal with Maroc Telecom, a leading Morocco Mobile Operator. Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is contracted to provide the new generation of Horizon macro GSM 900 Megahertz base stations for the popular tourist region of Marrakech and Agadir in the southern part of Morocco, as well as in the northern cities of Tangier, Tetouan, Fes, Meknes, Casablanca and El-jadida. The deal, which is an extension of Motorola's existing business with Maroc Telecom, means that Motorola continues as a major base station supplier to the Maroc Telecom's GSM mobile network. Motorola's turnkey services are designed to ensure the smooth, efficient running of Maroc Telecom's newly expanded network. Turnkey services, including site acquisition, installation, integration and network optimization, are to be provided by a dedicated team of Motorola digital wireless network operating system professionals. "Maroc Telecom subscribers have come to expect excellent wireless coverage in the populous regions in the country. As a leading supplier of the world's GSM communication digital wireless network infrastructure, Motorola is able to assist Maroc Telecom in providing top tier services to their customers," said Ali Amer, Motorola's manager in Morocco. "This contract signing demonstrates not only the level of continued commitment between Maroc Telecom and Motorola but also emphasizes that our business partnership is continuing strongly into the future. It's indicative of the growing demand for wireless services throughout the Middle East and Africa, as is evident by the number of recent contract wins Motorola has signed in the region," said Jeff Cherif, general manager of Motorola's Middle East and Africa Telecom Carrier Solutions Group. "That trend is expected to continue as network operators, such as Maroc Telecom, prepare for entry into GPRS services and solutions for their customers," said Cherif.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) is a global leader in providing integrated communications and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were $37.6 billion. For more information about Motorola, please visit www.motorola.com.

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