FOM Newsletter May 2001
Morocco Week in Review
 May 26,  2001

Morocco, which is located in an arid weather region, has granted a particular importance to cover its population food needs, by promoting agriculture development and lasting exploitation of its natural resources, said Morocco's minister of agriculture, rural development, water and forests, Ismail Alaoui. The official who took part at the second world forum on agriculture held this May 20-21 in St Louis, Missouri, explained how Morocco effected measures meant to mobilize water for irrigation needs, implement integrated development projects in rainy areas, promote the marketing of farming products and encourage investments and technology transfer in fishery. He further told the forum that brought together 700 representatives and officials from several countries that these actions have helped the kingdom reach satisfactory levels of food self-sufficiency (80% for cereals, 60% for sugar, 35% for edible oil, 100% for meat, 85% for milk and dairy products). Morocco has even surpassed self-sufficiency to export fruits, fresh and canned vegetables and sea products, he went on. 

Regarding the sea fishery sector, Alaoui explained that the Moroccan policy is geared toward enterprise modernization and investment promotion while striving to preserve the resource and end foreign over-exploitation. In agriculture, he said, Morocco, which is bound by the need to adapt to trade globalization, and commitments related to its agreements with the European Union and the World Trade Organization, is also endeavoring to guarantee food self self-sufficiency and improve the income and living standards of farmers. He also cited efforts to integrate agriculture in international economy, protect environment, preserve production potential, and maintain the safety and phytosanitary quality of its products. To enforce this policy, efforts are focusing on lasting management of natural resources, development of farming enterprises, structural handling of farmers indebtedness and improving the living conditions of rural populations. However, he went on, to succeed in these efforts to guarantee food security, Morocco needs regional and international financial and technological assistance, larger access to markets, and the creation of a world fund to help developing countries as part of solidarity of the haves with the have nots.

More than 2.6 million US dollars was collected during a telethon organized last Friday in Rabat to raise funds for children with a heart defects. According to the "2M Television" station which conceived the event, the amount was higher than the 1.5 million dollars originally envisaged for the construction and equipping of a Children's Heart Centre in Casablanca, 100 km south of Rabat. Highlights of the event included a documentary on a girl child heart patient, Yasmine, who passed away after a heart operation abroad, where she had been taken alone because her parents could not afford to accompany her. Yasmine's parents, who attended the 2M television show, appealed for financial support towards children with heart diseases and provide relief to parents who lose their children to the ailments. Renowned French and Egyptian singers as well as senior Moroccan medical personalities and leaders of local health associations attended the show.  Out of the 10,000 heart patients in Morocco, 3,000 are children awaiting heart operations.

Government statisticians are predicting GDP growth of 7.2% this year, based on agricultural growth of 30% and non-agricultural growth of 4.5%.  An earlier growth estimate of 8.1% had to be revised downward following a partial drought that has destroyed approximately 20% of the cereal harvest, mostly in the southern provinces. The Moroccan Economic Research Center (CMC) is predicting an inflation rate of 2.3% for 2001, up from 1.9% last year.

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

The trade deficit was up 22% at Dh9.91 billion in the first quarter, with imports of Dh30.03 billion (up 4.8%), exports of Dh20.12 billion (down 2%), and an export/import coverage ratio of 67% (71.7%). Key factors in the import blowout were semi-processed goods (+17.9%),food products (+18.5%), and consumer goods (+6.3%), while the top export performers were phosphates (+24.1), electrical and electronic goods (+22.4%), and textiles and leather (+10.3%). Food, seafood and agricultural exports were down 34%, 35% and 41%, respectively, while imports of crude oil dropped 21.7%. (Source: Upline Securities)

Unemployment was 13.6% in the year 2000, down marginally from 13.9% in 1999, with urban unemployment dropping to 21.5% (22.0%) and rural unemployment easing to 5.0% (5.4%).  Some 90,000 jobs were created in urban areas during the year, mainly in the retailing, restaurant and hotel sectors, but 45,000 rural jobs were lost to drought.

The famous Marrakesh square "Jamaa El Fna," a world of story-tellers, musicians and other mountebanks was proclaimed on Friday part of the 19 cultural spaces and forms of expressions labeled as "masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity." The proclamation of this list, the first of its kind, was made at the end of a 3-day meeting of an international jury of 18 members, chaired by the Spanish author Juan Goytisolo, which reviewed 32 candidatures. By proclaiming these 19 masterpieces, UNESCO - whose World Heritage List of the outstanding cultural and natural sites is very well-known - wanted to raise awareness about the importance of safeguarding intangible heritage, an essential component of cultural diversity. 

During the ceremony, UNESCO director-general, Koichiro Matsuura, stressed that the proclamation was just one first immediate initiative made ahead of the future undertaking of another one going in the same direction: the creation of a standard-setting instrument that will complement the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Jamaa el-Fna Square is situated near the city of Marrakesh, included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. A cultural crossroads, local people as well as visitors use it as a central meeting place. They come for entertainment and trading - even medical treatment. Here they find storytelling, acrobatics, musical recitals, comic acts and stunts, dancing, animal shows, snake-charming, glass and fire-eating. The square also hosts fortune-telling, astrology, numerology, and preaching. Even dental, traditional herb medicine and henna tattoo businesses are established here. Trading includes fruit, bread, water-carrying and the rental of lanterns during the dark evenings. Jamaa el-Fna Square dates back to the foundation of Marrakesh in 1070-1071, and since then has been the symbol of the city. Travelers have long extolled its cosmopolitanism and vibrancy.  It has been protected by law since the 1920s. UNESCO says on its website the square is presently facing threats linked to the growth and modernization of Marrakesh. Traffic, pollution, city development plans and tourism are taking their toll. The organization adds the square needs to be a model of town planning that gives priority to people, culture, encounter and exchange. The 10-year action plan will identify major problems and link together institutions involved in preserving the square. Practitioners' rights will be protected and scientific inventories established. A National Scientific Institute of Oral Heritage will be created to study the history of Djamaa el-Fna Square. 

Four of the proclaimed masterpieces were presented by countries of the American continent: the language, dances and music of the Garifuna (Belize, supported by Honduras and Nicaragua); the Oruro Carnival (Bolivia); the cultural space of the Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit of the Congos of Villa Mella (Dominican Republic); the oral heritage and cultural manifestations of the Zapara People (Ecuador and Peru). Three African cultural spaces and forms of expression have also been distinguished as masterpieces: The oral heritage of Gelede, (Benin, supported by Nigeria and Togo); the Gbofe of Afounkaha: the Music of the transverse trumpets of the Tagbana community (C?te d'Ivoire); the cultural space of Sosso Bala in Niagassola (Guinea). 

In Asia, UNESCO honored six masterpieces: Kunqu opera (China); Kutiyattam Sanskrit theatre (India); Nogaku theatre (Japan); royal ancestral rite and ritual music in Jongmyo shrine (Korea); the Hudhud chants of the Ifugao (Philippines); the cultural space of the Boysun District (Uzbekistan). European oral and intangible heritage numbers five laureates: the mystery play of Elche (Spain); Georgian polyphonic singing (Georgia); the Sicilian puppet theatre, opera Dei Pupi (Italy), cross crafting and its symbolism in Lithuania (Lithuania supported by Latvia); the cultural space and oral culture of the Semeiskie (Russian Federation). UNESCO defines as oral and intangible heritage as: "The totality of tradition-based creations of a cultural community, expressed by a group of individuals and recognized as reflecting the expectations of a community in so far as they reflect its cultural and social identity; its standards and values are transmitted orally, by imitation or by other means. Its forms are, among others, language, literature, music, dance, games, mythology, rituals, customs, handicrafts, architecture and other arts. In addition to these examples, account will also be taken of traditional forms of communication and information."

The Abu-Dhabi based Arab trade financing program has extended Morocco a credit line worth $ 25 mllion destined to finance the kingdom's trade deals. The loan agreement was initialed in Marrakesh Sunday by the program's executive president, Jassem Al Manaii, and Moroccan minister of economy, finance, privatization and tourism, Fathallah Oualalou. This new loan, the 27th of the kind, brings to $ 335 million the amount granted by the Arab trade financing program to Moroccan financial institutions. The program's actions aim at encouraging the setting up of an Arab free trade area, contributing to enhancing Arab products competitiveness and materializing Arab economic integration.

RABAT, May 21 (Reuters) - Morocco's trade deficit in the first quarter of this year stood at 9.9 billion dirhams ($851.5 million), up 22 percent from the same period of 2000, the state-run trade regulatory body said on Monday. The swelling trade deficit, however, met a sharp 38.2 percent rise in tourism receipts to 5.86 billion dirhams. Also, Moroccan expatriates remittances stood at 6.22 billion dirhams, up 23 percent from the January-March period of 2000, L'Office des Changes said on its Web site.

Imports rose 4.8 percent in value to 30 billion dirhams with a 6.6 percent rise in volume while exports fell two percent in value to 20.1 billion dirhams but rose 7.6 percent in volume. Foodstuff exports, mainly of seafood, citrus fruits and vegetables, posted a 34 percent fall in value compared to the same period of last year to stand at a total 3.58 billion dirhams.

Phosphates and by-products exports rose 24.1 percent to 3.86 billion dirhams and clothing and leather exports were up 10.3 percent at 7.65 billion dirhams. Equipments and crude oil imports declined at the end of the first quarter of this year while semi-processed products' imports, such as fertilizers, iron and steel, rose 17.9 percent to 5.64 billion dirhams, it said. The European Union is Morocco's main trade partner, accounting for almost two thirds of the North African country's foreign exchanges. ($1= 11.626 Moroccan dirhams)

The Moroccan prison observatory noted in its 2000-2001 report the overcrowding of Moroccan prisons as the major problem. The observatory which conducted a census last January estimates the number of inmates at 54,800 for a capacity of 39,000. All prisons are overcrowded, the only exception is the prison of Kenitra where two wards are empty, the report says. The non- governmental independent association set up in 1999 to monitor inmates rights to dignity, human treatment, protection, training and integration in life after release, also deplores poor quality of living conditions, airing, meals and hygiene in prison kitchens. The kitchen staff is not submitted to the necessary health controls, says the association which also notes a decrease in the budget earmarked for medical services from 11.68 Million DH ($ 1.06 million) in 1999-2000 to 10 million ($0.9 million) in 2000-2001. 

Inmates are also facing a lack in education, training and leisure activities, due to a shortage of pedagogic staff and equipment while minors and women are not given due heed as a special category of the inmate population. Morocco has only two specialized centers for minors. The association also deplores cases of sexual deviations, drugs consumption and corruption which it ascribes to the lack of staff and the degradation of their situation. The report was compiled after visits to 11 prisons by the association which praised the positive attitude of the administration. The mission meant to evaluate the situation in prisons after the adoption of a new law on prison organization and management. The association considers the law as a positive legislative reform but cautions that its provisions should be enforced. For the Moroccan justice department, the report only contains conclusions and is not exhaustive as the association did not visit all the Moroccan prisons. 

Head of the penitentiary administration and re-integration, Mohamed Lididi, says Morocco has 43 penitentiary institutions, in addition to 19 ones under construction while 12 others are being revamped and enlarged. Meanwhile the 2000-2004 plan projects the building of 34 other prisons and the refurbishment and extension of others, depending on the budget earmarked after the sale of real estate properties owned by the justice department.  The official went on in an annex attached to the report that his administration is endeavoring to increase the prison capacity. He also explained that the budget to feed inmates was increased by 20% in the five last years and that the diet is established in collaboration with the health ministry. Reacting to the report criticism over the lack of medical staff, Lididi says 126 medical doctors are working with the prison administration, which is a ratio of one doctor for each 450 prisoners while the national ratio, outside prisons, is one doctor for each 5,000 citizens.

Foreign tourist arrivals were up 9.1% in the first quarter at 568,816, and they were augmented by 248,846 expatriate Moroccans (+11.9%) and 52,275 cruise liner passengers (up 22%). Total non-resident arrivals were 869,937, up 10.6%. France led the field for foreign tourist arrivals by nationality with 196,716 (up 9.7%), followed by Germany with 55,710 (up 5%), Spain with 51,000 (up 1.3%), and Britain with 36,447 (up 24%). 

(Source: Upline Securities)

Total Energy and EDF have beaten six other contenders for an Electricity Authority (ONE) solar energy contract. The two companies will supply 16,000 sets of photovoltaic solar energy equipment to rural villages that are not connected to the national grid.

Morocco has the world's largest deposits of phosphate rock, and the most significant industrial infrastructure in Morocco's economy is centered on the mining and production of phosphate fertilizers for export to all major international markets. This industry is controlled by the state-owned Groupe Office Cherifien des Phosphates (OCP), which has major mining operations in various locations throughout the country, as well as major processing and fertilizer facilities at Jorf Lasfar, on the central Atlantic coast about 100 Km south of Casablanca, and further south at Safi, also on the coast. OCP is interested to explore U.S. technology for its desalinated water supply and other needs as it seeks to further improve its operations. 

A major opportunity was identified to utilize waste heat from the large volumes of cooling water used in current processes at the sulfuric acid plants to produce desalinated and potable water needed at the facility and elsewhere. The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (TDA) provided a grant to OCP for a U.S. firm to develop a feasibility study for a proposed desalination plant in Morocco. The objective of the feasibility study is to examine the technical and economic feasibility of the engineering, design, and construction of the seawater desalination project. The principal tasks for the feasibility study are as follows: 1) Technical Feasibility and Costs - basis for study, process description, process sketches/flow diagrams, heat and material balances, utilities, chemicals and catalyst, equipment lists, cost estimates, and environmental analysis; and 2) Financial and Economic Assessment - project/investment description, basis of calculations, economic and financial analysis, significant risk, financing and viable alternatives, project schedule, tables and spread sheets, and final report to OCP and TDA. This is opportunity is TDA number 01-10025A. The closing date is May 21. Requests for the bid package can be faxed to TDA's Information Resource Center at 703-875-4009.

http://www.govcon.com/content/news/article.asp?docid={15137162-4B86-11D5-A772-00D0B7694F32}&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Return to Friends of Morocco Home Page