FOM Newsletter June 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 June 16,  2001

Morocco's equipment minister, Bouamour Taghouane, announced that his department is planning a 500 million Dirham-investment (US$ 45.5 million) in water prospecting by 2004, while the Drinking Water Office (ONEP) will earmark 11 million DH (US$ one million) to consolidate drinking water production and extend the supply network. The minister, who was talking at a diner debate on the program to alleviate drought effects in Morocco held by the Association of journalists of Maghreb Arabe Presse (AJMAP), stressed that the budget will allow to dig 4,000 wells in order to increase production and the storage capacity and bring water supply in rural areas from 43% to 62% in 2004, or 7.5 million persons living in the countryside. An additional 8 small dams will also be built. To alleviate the effects of drought which has become a structural phenomenon and affected 90% of the territory as rain deficit ranged between 30 and 90%, he added, the state will support the transfer of water from regions with surplus to other which suffer water shortage. He also said all Moroccan regions will be supplied with drinking water and waste water will be treated to be re-used in irrigation. He announced other water-related legislative measures to rationalize the use of water and fight water squandering mainly in agriculture which takes up to 90% of the water volume. In the last three years, 44% of the equipment ministry budget went to water, he said, and amounts earmarked to supply drinking water to the rural world totaled 250 million DH (US $ 22.7 mln), in addition to 3.7 billion DH (US $ 336 mln) invested by ONEP. To a question on sea water desalination, he said Morocco, which has two units, considers this expensive solution as the last option.

The rate of unemployment has recorded a slight drop of 0.8 percent at the national level in Morocco during the first three months of 2001, standing at 12.7 percent compared to 13.5 percent during the same period last year. The statistics department said in its latest newsletter "Reperes Statistiques" that the number of unemployed people went down from 1,403,000 to 1,317,000 and that the drop was recorded both in urban areas (from 21.4 percent to 20.1 percent) and in the rural world (5.1 percent to 4.4 percent). The Moroccan economy succeeded in creating during this period some 149,000 jobs in urban areas, mainly in the sectors of transport and communication, trade and catering and hotel industry.

A Moroccan official has denied that the drought, which currently hits Morocco, would adversely impact drinking water supply in the years to come. Drought will have no impact whatsoever on the supply of drinking water in the years to come, Ali Fassi Fihri, director-general of the water company (ONEP/state-owned) told the press Tuesday. A severe drought has hit Morocco for the third consecutive year, dealing a serious blow to agriculture, which account for 19 percent of the country's GDP. The official assured that Morocco has enough water reserves to ensure a quality supply. He pleaded for a better management of the water resources and for generalizing supply to the whole territory.

RABAT - Some 280,000 hectares of palm groves in southern Morocco are jeopardized by desert encroachment, the Moroccan agriculture minister said. Drought, demographic pressure and overgrazing risk to turn into desert several regions in Morocco, Ismail Alaoui, told a meeting held Friday here on desert encroachment. The official cited the extension of urban centers as one of the major desertification factors. The urbanization rate went up from 29 percent in 1960 to 54 percent in 2000, he said.

TANGIERS- Drought, which has affected 90% of Moroccan territory, has forced Morocco to revise its growth rate forecast downwards, from an expected 8% to a rate ranging between 5 and 6%. Chairman of the Moroccan enterprises association (CGEM), Hassan Chami, told a plenary session of the association Moroccan enterprises will be affected by the situation and will face more hardships in dealing with international rapid changes and the slow pace of Moroccan administration.  Despite the new discourse that enterprises will be the basis of development and wealth, he cautioned, it seems that social sectors will be favored to the detriment of enterprises.

Morocco earmarks 48 percent of the state budget to social fields, a fact evidencing the importance the Kingdom grants to the population's social conditions. The statement was made by Mohamed Tadili, labor director at the employment department, who heads the Moroccan delegation to the 89th session of the International Labor Organization (ILO) conference, currently held in Geneva. The official, who surveyed Morocco's achievements in social and labor realms, said the government grants a special attention to the fight against poverty and exclusion and to the development of rural areas and to low-cost housing. The official also dwelt on the government's efforts to settle labor-related disputes part of a social dialogue involving the government, the trade unions and employers.

Japan has extended Morocco a loan worth 12.76 billion Yens (About 1.26 billion DH or US$ 114.5 million) to finance a 120 km-long stretch of the Mediterranean ring. The loan, carrying a 2.2% interest rate, is reimbursable over 30 years with a 10-year grace period. The 550 km-long ring, bordering the northeastern Mediterranean coastal areas is destined to facilitate the movement of goods and people, increase economic and trade activity and improve living conditions of some 1.5 million inhabitants. It will also break the isolation of the mountainous Rif region. With this new loan, which is the largest external financial contribution to the project, the needed financing is completed. In addition to Japan, other contributors are the European Union, Italy, Spain and the United Arab Emirates. The project total cost is estimated at 3.51 billion DH (US$ 319 mln), in addition to a 32 km-long highway between Tetuan and Fnideq estimated at 600 million DH (US$ 54.54 mln). The Mediterranean by-pass will be operational by 2005.

Belgium will finance a program to fight child labor, by granting micro-loans to parents who renounce making their children work and send them to school instead, a Belgian official said. Belgian vice-premier and minister of employment and equality of chances, Laurette Onkelinx, told Moroccan "L'opinion" daily Belgium is also ready to make Morocco benefit from its experience in social dialogue, labor control and equality of chances. She went on that she was impressed by projects submitted by Morocco at the International Labor Organization's latest session and had told the ILO executive bureau head that Belgium wants all the funds it pays to the international Organization to go to Morocco. She also hoped that cooperation in sex equality would be a long-term cooperation program. Onkelinx will meet on Friday Morocco's minister of employment, vocational training, social development and socilidarity, Abbas El Fassi, who is presently on a visit in Brussels. Talks will be an opportunity to assess implementation of the joint declaration signed last October in Rabat to promote bilateral cooperation in employment and labor.

The Saudi Development Fund has extended Morocco a loan worth 90 million Saudi Riyals (US$ 28 million) to finance the construction of a university hospital in Fez. The new health unit will improve the quality of highly-specialized services, give to students an appropriate training and support the training of physicians. King Mohammed VI and Saudi heir apparent, Prince Abdallah Ibn Abdelaziz chaired on Sunday the loan agreement signing ceremony. The accord was initialed by Morocco's economy, finance, tourism and privatization minister, Fathallah Oualalou, and Saudi finance and economy minister, Ibrahim Ibn Abdelaziz El Assaf. With this new agreement, the Saudi Fund-financed projects in Morocco totals 12, mainly in dam construction, agriculture, drinking water, low-cost housing and health facilities. The hospital, Saudi diplomatic sources told MAP, is part of a score of social projects carried out with Saudi funds. 

In addition to a project by the Saudi heir apparent, deputy president of the ministers council and commander of the national guard, to build the world's biggest eye hospital in the city, a Saudi donation worth 100 million DH (US$ 9 million) went to various social projects. Among these projects, the sources cited a 50 million Dirham-worth cancer center where construction works started last February to meet the local population needs. An amount of 33 million DH went to build a second lane on an 8-km-long coastal road in the Agadir region. In tourism, Saudi group "Dalat Al Baraka" is taking part in the development of a sea resort station near Agadir. 2nd deputy-chairman of the Saudi ministers council, defense and aviation minister, and general inspector, Prince Soltan Ibn Abdelaziz who gave the donation, has also contributed to the building of a children center and had earmarked 5 million Dirhams to the extension and revamping of a mosque in the city.

Morocco said it intends to reform its higher education scholarships system, which grew inefficient in view of the growing number of university students. The scholarships system has become inefficient in view of the increasing number of baccalaureate holders, which will jump from 90,000 presently to 400,000 in 2011, secretary of state for scientific research, Omar Fassi Fihri, told the chamber of advisors on Tuesday. The granting of the scholarship (about 1,300 DH every three months) to baccalaureate holders attending university should be radically reformed in line with the national charter on higher education which recommends that only students from poor families should be entitled to the scholarship, the official said.

RABAT, June 14 (Reuters) - Morocco's trade deficit in the first four months of the year increased 8.1 percent compared with the same period in 2000 to 13.28 billion dirhams ($1.12 billion), the state-run trade regulatory body said on Thursday. Despite a 2.7 percent rise in volume, the value of Moroccan exports slid to 26.2 billion from 26.4 billion dirhams in the January-April period, L'Office des Changes said on its website. Imports rose to 39.48 billion dirhams from 38.73 billions a year earlier with a 9.5-percent increase in volume. The cover ratio of exports to imports dropped to 66.3 percent from 68.3 percent at the end of April 2000. Foodstuff products exports, mainly seafood and citrus fruits, fell 23.6 percent to 4.98 billion dirhams and equipment exports were 26 percent lower at 1.64 billion dirhams. Clothing and textile exports, which represent over the third of Moroccan exports, rose 8.3 percent to 9.8 billion dirhams. The office said crude oil imports fell 16.4 percent to around 3.92 billion dirhams but energy imports share of total imports was stable at 16.5 percent. Cereals imports rose 39 percent in value and semi-processed products' imports rose 16.7 percent to 8.58 billion dirhams. The European Union is Morocco's main trade partner, accounting for almost two thirds of the North African country's foreign exchanges. ((Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com)) ($1= 11.853 Moroccan dirhams)

RABAT - The remittances of Moroccan expatriates and the receipts of tourism earned the Moroccan treasury 12 billion dirhams, roughly $ 1.043 billion, in the first three months of this year, the economy and finance department said. The figure represents a 29.8 percent rise compared to the first quarter of 2000.

RABAT - The French monthly Le "Monde Diplomatique" and the Moroccan company "Media Trust" concluded an agreement under which the monthly's issue in Arabic will be produced in Morocco. The issue will be distributed in the Maghreb countries. Director of Le Monde Diplomatique, Ignacio Ramonet, who is currently visiting Morocco voiced satisfaction at the accord signed with Media Trust and expressed his "confidence in the democratic transition" Morocco is going through.  

http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm#d38

Moroccan imports of cereals were worth up to April 2001 3.15 billion DH, (US$ 286 million) increasing by 39% compared to the 2.26 billion DH-worth of imports recorded last year (US$ 205.4 million). According to latest figures of the exchange office, Morocco imported more wheat, barley and corn. Wheat imports increased by 45.9% in the value and by 22.9% o, the volume (1.3 million tons compared to one million tons). Barley imports also rose by 23.9% in value and 5.8% in volume while corn purchase progressed by 22.7% in value and 15.9% in volume. Morocco experienced this year another drought season which affected 90% of the territory.

Moroccan exports of textile and leather items reached up to end April 2001 some 9.8 billion DH (US$ 89.09 million), which is an increase of 8.3% compared to the same period of last year. Figures released by the exchange office, the increase was mainly noted in ready-to-wear garments which exports progressed by 7.8%, while hosiery items increased by 2.1%. Following this positive evolution, the share of textile and leather items in exports progressed by 3.2 points to stand at 37.4%.

RABAT - Morocco's trade balance worsened by 22 percent during the first three months of 2001, the economy department said. The coverage rate of imports by exports dropped by 4.7 points, going down from 71.7 percent in 2000 to 67 percent in 2001. The situation was imputed to the sluggishness of exports, especially those of sea products, and to oil prices hike in world markets.

The Moroccan inter-ministerial commission of investments approved six investment conventions in the sectors of tourism, industry, cinema and fisheries, worth 1.83 billion Dirhams (about $159.73 million). The approved projects will create nearly 3,000 jobs. The commission that convened here last week under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, looked into two projects in the sectors of cement industry and agri-business. The two projects are worth respectively DH 1.0 billion (us$ 90.9) and DH 650 million (us$59 Mln). The commission, set up in September 1998, has so far approved 112 investment projects worth DH 50 billion (us$4.54 billion), and creating nearly 50,000 jobs.

Morocco's Princess Lalla Meryem, chairwoman of the Moroccan observatory of children rights on Monday stressed children's right to live in dignity and the need to shield them against any discrimination. In an address here Monday before the Preparatory Committee for the UN general assembly's special session on children, slated for next September, Princess Lalla Meryem reiterated Morocco's "conviction that children have the right to live their childhood with dignity and without discrimination," urging the international community "to face the tragic situation in which children live as a result of embargoes and armed conflicts, such as the situation of Palestinian and Iraqi children. "Such situations constitute a continuous threat to children's basic rights to life and require appropriate solutions to put an end to this tragedy," she insisted. 

She also called developing countries to jointly conduct "horizontal and accurate studies and research," in view of similarities between problems of children in these countries. The princess, who is heading an official delegation comprising royal advisor, Zoulikha Nasri, and some cabinet members, told the New York meeting these studies and research are needed to "widen the vision and find solutions in the framework of regional coordination." She went on that King Mohammed VI has decided that Morocco should contribute to the regional endeavor through the establishment of a scientific research and expertise mechanism that would be at the disposal of the concerned parties at the regional and international levels especially in Arab-African regions. The princess also surveyed before government representatives efforts made by Morocco to improve children rights. She cited, in this regard, the king's initiative to craft a strategy to which actors of the civil society, governmental sector, children and human rights advocates were associated to implement substantial programs at the national, regional and continental levels. 

She also recalled the numerous national and regional meetings held recently in Morocco, mainly the Arab Civil Society Forum, that was attended by more than 200 experts, the summit of African first ladies on African girls and the Arab-African finance ministers conference, organized in coordination with UNICEF and attended by economic experts, international financial organizations and NGOs. United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette urged for a renewed political push to meet the needs of the world's young people, citing "real and significant" progress in a number of areas since the landmark 1990 World Summit for Children. She went on child mortality rates were down, immunization levels were up, and more girls and boys were receiving an education than ever before."Clearly, children now have a much higher profile on the national and global political agendas," said Frechette, introducing We the Children, a report by the Secretary-General which reviews progress since the 1990 Summit. "Yet much more needs to be done." She noted that over 10 million children still die each year "often from preventable causes," while an estimated 150 million others suffer from malnutrition. Conflicts took the lives of approximately 2 million children over the past decade, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic has left more than 13 million orphans. The General Assembly's special session on children "must aim at regenerating political will and commitment in order to address the remaining challenges and emerging issues affecting the well being of our children," Frechette told the final preparatory session, which opened on Monday and runs through Friday.

Calling for a "decisive shift" in national investments to favor the well being of children, the UN official said leaders attending the special session must exert the necessary political will to bring about that transformation. "We have the knowledge, the resources and the strategies to act," she said. "It is no longer a question of what is possible, but of what is given priority, and there is no issue more important than the survival and harmonious development of our children."

Meknes - The archeological site of Volubilis, some 200 km northeast of Rabat, hosted on Friday a fund-raising gala to promote and develop the site which is part of the UNESCO's world heritage. A delegation of outstanding British figures paid 2,000 pounds each to attend the event held to support the Moroccan-British excavation and rehabilitation program. On the Moroccan side, participation included royal advisor, Andre Azoulay, prime minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, culture and communication minister, Mohamed Achaari and local authorities, in addition to a group of artists and businessmen from the two countries. The five-year project requires 350,000 pounds. It covers research, excavations and restoration of the site dating back to the Roman presence in Morocco.

The Herald Sun reports that production has begun on "Mad Max 4," but a mystery remains who has taken the lead roles. Mel Gibson won't star, but according to sources for the trade he may take on a producer role. Rumors continue as to whether Heath Ledger, who had expressed interest in the film, is to star. They last worked together on "The Patriot". The Sun says that "Mad Max 4" is now being shot in Morocco, and will also use South Australian sites at Coober Pedy (where "Mad Max 3" was filmed) and the Flinders Ranges. Writer/director George Miller is said to have been searching the globe for locations. The film's story line remains a secret.

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