US senate confirms new U.S. ambassador to Morocco.
Release of central bank report prompts media criticism of government economic policy.
Moroccan 2001 GDP growth revised down - think-tank.
The Maghreb in the UNDP Human Development Index.
Privatization revenue hides massive deficit.
Moroccan economy expected to post 6.1 percent growth in 2002
Moroccan handicapped children association signs cooperation agreement with Spanish ngos.
Morocco reaches "maturity" in quest for FDI.
Report: Mohammed VI `not satisfied' with his reign so far.
Moroccan king pledges elections as planned in 2002.
Road accidents' damages estimated at 8 billion dh annually.
Drownings of would-be immigrants said four times higher in Morocco than Spain.

US senate confirms new U.S. ambassador to Morocco.

Morocco-USA, Politics, 7/21/2001

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010721/2001072117.html

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Release of central bank report prompts media criticism of government economic policy.

Economy

The publication of the central bank's year 2000 annual report has provoked harsh criticism of the government's economic policy by daily newspaper L'Economiste. The Bank Al Maghrib report indicates a real growth rate of 0.3% in 2000, inflation of 1.9%, a 34% rise in the trade deficit, and a budget deficit of 0.7% of GDP for 1999/2000 (including revenue from the second mobile telephony license). L'Economiste says that the report shows an explosion of the trade and budget deficits, increased vulnerability to drought, and the continuing use of extraordinary income (privatization revenue) to cover ordinary expenditure. It says that the government no longer engages in productive investment, leaving the financial system to focus on lending for a policy of public consumption that has failed to boost internal growth. The newspaper attributes the decline of the stock market to a loss of investor confidence caused by this alleged shift away from productive investment. (Source: Upline Securities)

http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm

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Moroccan 2001 GDP growth revised down - think-tank.

By Souhail Karam

CASABLANCA, July 24 (Reuters) - Morocco's gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rise by 7.6 percent in 2001, less than an earlier forecast of 9.0 percent due to the impact of drought, a local think-tank said. The North African country's $30-billion economy stagnated in the past two years also due to drought. Around half of the 10.6 million workforce is employed in the agricultural sector, which accounts for 17 to 20 percent of GDP. The Centre Marocain de Conjoncture (CMC), said that GDP would rise by 6.1 percent in 2002. But CMC officials played down the two expected rises. Its previous forecasts were in April. "Compared to its 1998 level, GDP would post a 2.5 percent increase in 2002," CMC Director Ahmed Laaboudi told a news conference late on Monday.

UNTAPPED RESOURCES

CMC chairman Habib El Malki said GDP growth in Morocco remained anaemic. For Laaboudi, "there is an extremely wide gap between the economy's potential and its results". Despite government's efforts to keep inflation low and public finances healthy, the "economic trend is not good". "Even public finances are extremely fragile... because of stagnation in tax receipts," Laaboudi said.

Public debts, he said, represented 98 percent of GDP, estimated at 350 billion dirhams ($29.8 billion). Foreign debt at the end of 2000 stood at $16.2 billion. "While foreign debt stake is decreasing this trend is offset by rising domestic debt," Laaboudi said. Industrial production runs at 56 percent of total capacity and unemployment stands at 20 percent and rising, he said. Morocco, faced with a 2012 deadline to prepare its economy for the abolition of trade barriers with the European Union, "needs to come up with a different economic approach", he said. King Mohammed, in an interview with the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published on Tuesday, said the country needed incentives to boost investment.

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

($1=11.743 Moroccan dirhams)

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=995974418nL24116639&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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The Maghreb in the UNDP Human Development Index.

Maghreb - Development

The latest UNDP Human Development Report shows the following ranking for Maghreb countries. Best performer is Tunisia, which is ranked 89th followed by Algeria (100th), and Egypt (105th). Morocco lagged behind its neighbors at 112. 162 countries are ranked in the Human Development Index that is based on life expectancy, educational levels, and real GDP per capita.

http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm

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Privatization revenue hides massive deficit.

Economy

The Dh 23 billion check from Vivendi Universal for its 35% stake in Maroc Télécom has generated a budget surplus of Dh18 billion for the four months to April, but without the privatization revenue the budget would be in deficit by Dh4.8 billion (up 140% on the same period last year). The deficit blow-out can be traced to an 18.7% rise in spending, fueled mainly by a higher public wage bill, increased administration costs, and heavy subsidies on staple foods and fuel. Income rose by only 4.6%, mainly thanks to a higher VAT and income tax take. Finance Minister Fathallah Oualalou has issued Cabinet Ministers with a memo on the 2002 budget calling for 10% cuts in operating budgets, reduced investment spending, and a public sector hiring freeze. The memo forecasts growth of between 4% and 5% on the assumption of an average cereals harvest, inflation of 3%, a current account deficit of 0.5% of GDP, and a budget deficit of no more than 3% of GDP.

http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm

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Moroccan economy expected to post 6.1 percent growth in 2002

Economics, 7/24/2001

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010724/2001072405.html

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Moroccan handicapped children association signs cooperation agreement with Spanish ngos.

Culture, 7/21/2001

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010721/2001072114.html

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Morocco reaches "maturity" in quest for FDI.

Morocco "has reached maturity" as an attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI), according to Finance Minister Fathallah Oualalou, who was presenting the latest statistics. Foreign investment was Dh26.8 billion to the end of May, including Dh23.3 billion generated by the Maroc Télécom privatization, while tourism revenue and expatriate remittances were up 40% and 29%, respectively. Foreign investment as a proportion of GDP was 3.6% in 2000, down from 5.3% in 1999 (a figure inflated by the second GSM license tender), but well up from an average 0.98% for the 1973 to 1998 period. Mr. Oualalou attributed the recent boom in foreign investment to Morocco's strategic location, its integration into European markets, and the success of economic and political reforms. He highlighted the increasing role played by the telecommunications sector, which has accounted for 59% of FDI since January 1999, and by the electronic components and cabling sector (16%). (Source: Upline Securities)

http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm

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Report: Mohammed VI `not satisfied' with his reign so far.

RABAT, Morocco, Jul 24, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Two years into his reign, King Mohammed VI of Morocco gave a rare newspaper interview in which he expressed his commitment to human rights but also asked the press to stop criticizing him. "Shouldn't I benefit from the same (human) rights that are accorded by the law to all Moroccans?" the monarch was quoted as saying Tuesday by Saudi newspaper Achark Al-Awsat. He added that he was in favor of a free press but for a "responsible freedom that respected institutions". Mohammed, 38, initially gained widespread approval after ascending to the throne after his father, Hassan II, died in July 1999. He fired Driss Basri, the iron-fisted interior minister in office for 20 years, and has taken steps to allow political exiles or their families to return home. However, in December, police twice used truncheons against demonstrations - one by the human rights organization and one by an Islamic group. Dozens were arrested. That month three newspapers were banned, including Morocco's most widely read weekly, Le Journal, which had come to epitomize the effervescent atmosphere that took hold with the new king. The bureau chief of Agence France-Presse, the French news agency, was expelled from Morocco. Experts like Mohammed Tozy, author of many books on Morocco, have said the king is held back from making widespread reforms by a hidden source of power, known as the "Makhzen," that emanates from family and advisers within the palace itself, and permeates political life. The "Makhzen" is seen as guaranteeing Morocco's stability but also keeping it conservative. In his Achark Al-Awsat interview, the king denied that the palace was serving as a separate shadow government behind the official one, expressing his confidence in Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi. The king conceded he wasn't satisfied with his work so far. "My ambition is to give more. It's for that reason that I am not satisfied with what I've given Morocco and Moroccans because I aspire to more," the monarch said. While Morocco boasts the Arab world's first McDonald's and one of its first stock markets, its economy remains farm-based, and nearly 20 percent of Moroccans live on less than a dollar a day. Some 60 percent of the population is age 25 or less, and unemployment is 22 percent.

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=205u8001&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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Moroccan king pledges elections as planned in 2002.

RABAT, July 24 (Reuters) - Morocco's King Mohammed said general elections would be held in 2002 as planned, ending speculation among political circles the vote would be postponed.

"The 2002 elections will take place as scheduled," he said in an interview with the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper published on Tuesday. Morocco had been abuzz with reports that the Socialist-led government would delay the vote to allow the implementation of electoral reforms and because traditional political parties,torn by infighting, would not be ready in time. "I don't want to delay the elections. In fact, I'd like the vote to take place as soon as possible to allow politicians to serve their country and not only their party," the king said. In the interview, only his second to the media since his enthronement two years ago, the 37-year-old monarch said the fight against poverty and marginalisation and for better education were among his priorities. After succeeding his late father Hassan on July 30, 1999, King Mohammed appeared to embark on a reformist path, allowing opponents to return home and raising hopes of a quick democratization of a regime critics call archaic and feudal. Dozens of political prisoners were released, a human rights advisory council was set up to hear about 5,000 complaints and a multi-million dollar fund was created to compensate victims of human rights abuses. "The release of prisoners was first and foremost a humanitarian act...thank God, today there are no political prisoners left in Morocco," he said. This contradicted Amnesty International, which said in April that Moroccan jails still held about 60 political prisoners. But the London-based organization noted the political will existed in Morocco to solve past and present human rights abuses. Asked about the sometimes acerbic comments of his rule in the foreign press, the king said he respected press freedom. Several local and foreign publications have suffered temporary or partial bans in recent months about articles on sensitive issues in Morocco, such as the Western Sahara, the role of Islamists, the royal family and ethnic Berbers. However, the July 13 edition of the French daily Le Monde, which had a story that referred to the Moroccan king as "the lazy king" or "the partying king", was available in the country. "Moroccans, I know, are not happy, and that's an understatement, to see certain newspapers systematically attack Morocco or me," he said. "I also know that some people say or think that to allow these newspapers can be seen as a weakness from my part...To them, I say that on the contrary this is an act of bravery."

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

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=995993161nL24194758&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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Road accidents' damages estimated at 8 billion dh annually.

Economics, 7/25/2001

http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/010725/2001072550.html

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Drownings of would-be immigrants said four times higher in Morocco than Spain.

MADRID, Spain, Jul 25, 2001 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- Some 3,123 would-be illegal immigrants have drowned in Moroccan waters over the past five years, nearly four times the figure for those found in Spanish seas, a Moroccan immigrants group said Wednesday. "Bodies are being washed up every day in Morocco although the government does not want to admit it," said Mustapha Merabet, spokesman for ATIME, the Association of Moroccan Immigrant Workers in Spain. Every year, thousands of Africans fleeing poverty, and sometimes war, attempt the treacherous crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar to Spain by night in packed, makeshift, single-motor boats known in Spanish as 'pateras.' Many are caught on arrival and returned to their countries of origin while thousands of others are known to evade detection. Most of the immigrants are Moroccan, but others come from as far south as Liberia and Nigeria. ATIME said it had calculated the number drowned in Moroccan waters from figures presented by 34 non-governmental organizations in Morocco. The Moroccan government does not issue any official figures on those drowned. Spanish authorities, meanwhile, estimate 801 would-be immigrants have been plucked from Spanish waters over the past five years. "If only the Moroccan government could demonstrate that we are wrong and that the figure is much lower," said Merabet. "But even if it were 200 bodies, it would demand action and at the moment Morocco does nothing." The rudimentary open boats are often packed with between 30 and 40 people and many capsize during the crossing attempt. Merebet pointed out that its figure for drownings represents only the past five years while the 'patera' problem goes back more than 15 years. Morocco has said that greater investment from abroad would discourage Africans from trying to reach Europe. It maintains it cannot keep a 24-vigil along its entire coast to crack down on criminal gangs who make the boats and traffic immigrants.

By CIARAN GILES Associated Press Writer

Copyright 2001 Associated Press, All rights reserved

http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=206u3611&Section=Countries&page=Morocco

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