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FOM Newsletter
October
2001
Morocco Week in Review
October 27, 2001
The
Road to Morocco: American Jews, Christians and Muslims in dialogue.
Inflation 1.0% in the
seven months to July.
Inflation 1.0% in the
eight months to August
UNFPA
recommends $12.5 million for Moroccan population program.
Japanese
delegation in Morocco for mothers' health project.
Poll shows 64% of
Moroccans support United States.
Moroccan Jan-Aug
tourism receipts soar to $1.9 bln
Investment down, wage
bill up in draft budget.
Small business promotion
strategy unveiled.
Investment incentives
included in budget.
Investment climate faces
harsh criticism.
Oracle selects Morocco as
African hub
100,000 year old
human skull discovered near Rabat.
Islamic
Development Bank Loans Morocco $ 5.4 million.
Morocco Attends US-Africa
Business Summit.
First
International Hassan II Water Prize to be Awarded in 2003.
The Road to Morocco: American Jews, Christians and Muslims in dialogue.
Culture, 10/25/2001
The US Hartford University screened in premiere Wednesday evening at its Harry Gray Cultural center a short movie titled "Road to Morocco: American Jews, Christians and Muslims in Dialogue." The short movie, shot by the UN TV, explains the true face of Islam through the trip of an American multi-confessional group. The film relates the itinerary of the group in a Muslim country where the three revealed religions have always coexisted in harmony. The viewers followed the phases of this cultural pilgrimage performed during the Spring season of 2000, the visits to ancestral places of worship as well as discussions with representatives of the three Abrahamic religions, in a country where diversity and dialogue have for time immemorial been part of its pillars. Executives from the Henry Luce Forum in Abrahamic Religions, which sponsored the short movie, said this is the reason that dictated the choice of Morocco for this film-testimony on the warmth of a people, whose deep devotedness equals its openness and tolerance. The film will be screened in other university and cultural centers in the US and abroad part of a program of lectures initiated by Hartford University for a better understanding of Islam.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011025/2001102544.html
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Inflation 1.0% in the seven months to July.
Indicators
Inflation was 1.0% in the seven months to July 31st, well down on both the five-year average for the period (1.34%) and the same period last year (1.8%). The inflation rate for July was -0.1%, compared with a zero movement in June. Food prices were down 0.4% on the seven-month period, with non-food prices rising 2.1%, and the same figures for the month of July alone were -0.4% and +0.1%. (Source: Upline Securities)
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Inflation 1.0% in the eight months to August
Inflation was 1.0% in the eight months to August 31st, well down on both the five-year average for the period (1.34%) and the same period last year (1.6%). The inflation rate for August was 0.3%, compared with a movement of -0.1% in July. Food prices were down 0.3% on the eight-month period, with non-food prices rising 2.0%, and the same figures for the month of August alone were +0.4% and +0.1%.
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UNFPA recommends $12.5 million for Moroccan population program.
Local, 10/25/2001
Executive director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) recommended to the organization administrative board to adopt a US$ 12.5 million budget for Morocco's population program. In a report published Wednesday, the UNFPA chief said out of the recommended budget, US$ 7.5 million would come from the Fund ordinary resources while the remaining US$ 5 million will be collected through co-financing arrangements and/or other resources. This would be the 6th aid program to Morocco provided by the UN body which has already contributed to improving the demographic situation and reproductive health in the last 25 years. The last 1997-2000 program was worth US$ 19 million, including 6 million from multilateral resources.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011025/2001102541.html
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Japanese delegation in Morocco for mothers' health project.
Health, 10/26/2001
A Japanese delegation is undertaking this October 14 through November 1st a mission visit to Morocco to supervise a mothers' health project in rural areas. The project, co-sponsored by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), seeks to improve health coverage of rural population in order to reduce the death of mothers and newborns. It consists of consolidating the health service system, in-house visits, and evacuation of women with risk pregnancies. JICA will equip delivery wards with operation units, transport vehicles and cars for roving medical teams.
A total of 40 health centers will benefit from the initiative.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011026/2001102623.html
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Poll shows 64% of Moroccans support United States.
A Telemark System opinion poll conducted for the daily newspaper L'Economiste has found that 64% of Moroccans approve of their government's support for the United States following the September 11th terrorist attacks, compared with 26% who disapprove. But 88% of respondents opposed Moroccan involvement in any military action. The poll was based on a sample of 550 people drawn from all age groups and geographic regions, although senior civil servants and private sector managers were over-represented because they are more likely to have telephones. (Source: Upline Securities)
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Moroccan Jan-Aug tourism receipts soar to $1.9 bln
RABAT, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Moroccan tourism receipts for the January-August period stood at 22.1 billion dirhams ($1.93 billion), up 49 percent from the same period in 2000, the state foreign trade regulatory body said on Monday. Compared with their average amount for the same period in the past four years, January-August receipts rose 90.5 percent, the Office des Changes said in a report on its webside. Officials have said they expect tourism receipts to slow down considerably in the last four months of the year in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the United States and its military retaliatory action against Afghanistan. Morocco received 2.5 million foreign visitors in 2000 and aims to quadruple the figure by 2010. It is investing some $5.2 billion in six seaside resorts. (Rabat newsroom, +212-37 720065 fax +212-37 722499, rabat.newsroom@reuters.com) ($1=11.465 Moroccan dirhams)
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Investment down, wage bill up in draft budget.
Economy
Projected public investment is down 8.5% at Dh19.855 billion in the draft 2002 budget, although the Finance Ministry says that investment spending by the Hassan II Development Fund, public agencies, and local authorities would bring the combined total to Dh64 billion. Despite the longstanding goal of a reduced public wage bill, the draft budget provides for a 13.14% increase in the aggregate public salary mass in order to fund exceptional promotions and the recruitment of 8,755 extra staff, mainly in the Education and Health Ministries. It also provides for Morocco's first early retirement program, and 20,000 departures are expected in the first year alone. The privatization program continues to play a critical role on the revenue side of the equation, with sales planned for next year including a partial float of Maroc Télécom, the Tobacco Board, the Banque Centrale Populaire, and the Rabat Zoo. (Source: Upline Securities)
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Small business promotion strategy unveiled.
The government has unveiled a small-and-medium-sized business (SMB) promotion strategy that will create a nation-wide public-private support network for SMBs. The strategy will include local information and advice centers, specialized financial support services within banks, and tax incentives. Approximately 95% of all Moroccan businesses are small-and-medium-sized, and their alarming failure rate has been blamed on the lack of support services and financing options. (Source: Upline Securities)
http://www.north-africa.com/one.htm
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Investment incentives included in budget.
Economy
Unconfirmed reports suggest that the 2002 draft budget may include moderate tax cuts and new regional investment incentives focused on northern Morocco. The top taxation rate would be lowered from 45% currently to 44% next year and 43% in 2003, and regional investment incentives that are currently offered in Tangiers would be extended to the nearby city of Tetouan. (Source: Upline Securities)
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Investment climate faces harsh criticism.
The Moroccan investment climate came under harsh criticism in the past week, following a seminar organized by the German Chamber of Commerce at which several German firms lambasted a range of obstacles. One said that it had spent a year waiting for a trading permit that it may not even have needed, simply because no one was able to decide the issue. Another abandoned a Dh200 million tourism project when the land title was challenged by people claiming to be heirs to the property, and a third company said it had lost so much money during a nine-month wait for a trading permit that it was closing down its operations. The grievances presented to the seminar prompted a sustained debate in the economic press throughout the week. (Source: Upline Securities)
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Oracle selects Morocco as African hub
American IT group Oracle has selected Morocco as the hub of its African operations and has signed a partnership agreement with local company Saham IT. Saham will provide Oracle applications, training programs, and support services to retailers across francophone Africa. There are also plans to create an Oracle regional training center targeted at clients, universities, and the retraining of unemployed graduates.
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100,000 year old human skull discovered near Rabat.
History, 10/24/2001
A 100,000 year old human skull has been recently discovered in Harhoura, some 15 km south of Rabat. The scalp was discovered by a team of searchers from the Moroccan institute of archeological sciences and heritage and searchers from the French archeology institute, in a cave in Harhoura. Two skeletons, dating back to 600,000 BC, were discovered in the cave in 1978, and
two other skeletons were unearthed in 1996. Three archeological caves exist in this area.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011024/2001102440.html
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Islamic Development Bank Loans Morocco $ 5.4 million.
Economics, 10/24/2001
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) has extended Morocco a $ 5.4 million loan destined to finance a literacy project to benefit 584,000 Moroccan citizens, mostly rural women. The loan will finance the implementation of educational programs as well as the compilation, printing and distribution of manuals. The loan agreement was initialed in Algiers by Moroccan minister of economy, finance, privatization and tourism, Fathallah Oualalou, and IDB president, on the sidelines of the the 26th annual meeting of the IDB governing board, held here Tuesday and Wednesday. The literacy project is part of the Moroccan national program of struggle against illiteracy that targets to reduce illiteracy rate from 47 % to 35 % by 2004.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/011024/2001102437.html
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Morocco Attends US-Africa Business Summit.
RABAT - A high-level Moroccan delegation will participate in the USA-Africa business summit, to be held in Philadelphia October 30 through November 2. The delegation will be led by Ahmed Lahlimi, minister of social economy, small and medium enterprises and handicraft. Lahlimi will address the first plenary session of the Summit that will be centered on the development of small and medium firms in Africa. The Summit had been postponed to the present date after the terrorist attacks perpetrated last September11 against the USA.
http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm
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First International Hassan II Water Prize to be Awarded in 2003.
MARSEILLE- The first international Hassan II water prize will be awarded on the occasion of the third international water conference to be held in Kyoto, Japan, in 2003. The administrative board of the World water Council will be meeting here Friday and Saturday to finalize the prize awarding modalities. The $ 100,000-worth International Hassan II water prize, was instituted in March 2000 in the Hague by the World Water Council during the second International water forum. It will be awarded on the occasion of the international water conference held every three years.
http://www.map.co.ma/english/dispatches/national_news.htm
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