FOM Newsletter February 2004
Morocco Week in Review 
February 21 2004

Morocco allows first bread price hike in ages.
Over 132,000 books donated during Book Season campaign
600 000 Moroccan children at work - ministry
H.M. King receives leaders of major American Jewish Organizations
Morocco-US FTA reckons with productive sectors with social impact, Minister
Privatisation keeps Morocco
Moroccan exporters complain from heavy transportation costs Morocco
H.M. King Mohammed VI Launches construction of mental rehab center in Essaouira
H.M. King Mohammed VI Chairs Signing of Convention for Construction of 143 km of Rural Roads in Essaouira Region
H.M. King Mohamed VI chairs signing of convention for new tourism compound in Essaouira
Locust Situation Totally Under Control in Morocco
Morocco reached 1,500 new internet subscriptions monthly
New Moroccan Labor code to improve and protect women's labor rights
Morocco's e-administration project Idarati to cost $6.8 million
Magazine showcases liberal voices from Morocco
HM King Mohammed VI Launches New Neighborhood, water supply and Liquid Sanitation projects in Agadir
Morocco announces 12% drop in external debt, 5.5% increase in growth rate
Movenpick Hotel Chain Eyes Four or Five More Hotels in Morocco
Kuwait, Morocco initial loan agreement for Highway project

Morocco allows first bread price hike in ages.
February 18 2004 Rabat

Moroccan bakers clinched the first bread price hike in 15 years on Wednesday after the government yielded in a tug-of-war with their union over the potentially explosive issue. A 100 percent increase in bread prices in 1981 triggered bloody riots and an official death toll of 29 civilians. Human right groups say up to 500 died and were buried in mass graves. "The government approved the nine percent rise, effective as of Wednesday. The loaf of bread will now cost 1.2 dirhams (just over R2)," said Hassan Azzas, head of the Moroccan Bakers Union.  Authorities relinquished control over bread prices in 2001, but pressured bakers into canceling a nine percent hike last October.

The move triggered a two-day strike that disrupted the supply of the staple product in several cities, prompting the government to agree with the union to a price rise after end-January Muslim feast Eid-ul-Adha, which is usually marked by heavy spending by households. Bakers say making bread is not profitable below a price of 1.4 dirhams a loaf.

A government source confirmed the rise and said the union asked for two more hikes of 9.0 percent each over the next six months. "We have not made a decision yet on the future rises," the source said without elaborating. The source declined to comment on whether the price rises might prompt opposition.

Economist Najib Akesbi said a lot has changed since the 1981 riots, but a large fringe of Moroccans live below the threshold of poverty and bread remains a must on Moroccan dinner tables. "Radical opposition, led at the time of the riots by leftist parties and unions, has subsided considerably.
In fact, the spirit of rebellion of the 1970s and 1980s has disappeared," he said.

The appointment of a Socialist-led government by late King Hassan in 1998, after left-wing parties won legislative polls, was seen as a major political breakthrough that sealed the reconciliation with the palace. "Islamists might see in the rise some sort of an opportunity...But everybody knows that the price of bread has barely risen over the past 20 years," Akesbi said.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=85&art_id=qw1077127381353B213&set_id=1
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Over 132,000 books donated during Book Season campaign
Morocco, Culture, 2/18/2004

Over 132,000 books were donated by Moroccans during the "book season"
book-collecting operation held nationwide by the Moroccan department of youth, announced Mohamed El Gahs, secretary of state for youth.

The official said in an interview with Moroccan TV channel "2M" the figure will increase as several persons wished for extending the campaign, explaining that beyond book donations, the operation means to promote awareness on the importance of books and to give books the place they deserve as a source of knowledge and entertainment and as a tool to refine tastes and shape personalities.

According to studies conducted in Morocco, the low interest in books is a result of high rates of illiteracy among Moroccans -- nearly 50%, the weak purchasing power and the high prices of books, in addition to the prevailing culture of image and the growing interest in the Internet.

El Gahs stressed that books need to be the basis in the democratic and modernist social project that Morocco is trying to build, citing the need for rehabilitating libraries, providing reading spaces and training moderators and instructors.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040218/2004021826.html
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600 000 Moroccan children at work - ministry
January 29 2004 Rabat

An estimated 600 000 Moroccan children are working, mainly on family farms, the Labour Ministry said on Wednesday, despite a commitment by Rabat to end child labour. Results of a ministry study showed that 84 percent of child workers were in agriculture, and of these 96 percent were employed by their families. The figures referred to children aged between seven and 14, a ministry official said.

The North African country is committed by international conventions to eradicating child labour. It ratified in 1993 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which says children should be protected from economic exploitation. A new labour bill, expected to be implemented this year, bans employment of children under 15. The ministry official said 800 000 children under 14 in Morocco, a country of 30 million, do not go to school.
http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?click_id=85&art_id=qw107535096120B256&set_id=1
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H.M. King receives leaders of major American Jewish Organizations
ESSAOUIRA,(South of Rabat) Feb. 17

H.M. King Mohammed VI of Morocco received, here Tuesday, a delegation of leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations currently visiting Morocco. These are James S. Tisch, chairman of the conference, Ronald Lauder, former Chairman, Seymour Reich, former Chairman, Malcolm Hoeplein, deputy Chairman, Gerald Nadler, congressman from New York, Liliane Chalom, deputy-Chairwoman, Alexander Mashkevitch, Chairman of the Euro-Asian Congress. The meeting was attended by H.M. the King's advisor, Andre Azoulay, and Serge Berdugo, Secretary General of the Council of the Israeli communities in Morocco.

The delegation's visit to Morocco, an historic first for the Conference given Morocco's important geopolitical role, can contribute significantly to US-Moroccan ties and to efforts towards a peaceful relationship between Israel and the Arab nations, said the organization which also stresses "the unique leadership position in the Muslim and Arab world" held by H.M. King Mohammed VI and "the significant changes to his country and to the region".

The visit "also offers an important framework for continued Jewish-Muslim dialogue and cooperation", the Conference added. The 70 member-delegation's trip to the Kingdom includes discussions with the local Jewish community and on-site visits to communal institutions "to gain a better understanding of the history, culture and status of the community".

The delegation also includes Lester Pollack, former chairman of the conference and chairman of the Morocco-US council on trade and investment.
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations is the central coordinating body representing 53 national Jewish organizations. © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Morocco-US FTA reckons with productive sectors with social impact, Minister
Rabat, Feb.14

Negotiations under way between Morocco and the United for the conclusion of a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), are reckoning with the situation of productive sectors that have a social impact, insisted, here Friday, Moroccan Minister of Communication.

Nabil Abdallah who is also spokesman of the Government, was alluding to the "very sensitive" agricultural aspect, with farmers voicing concern over their situation once the agreement is concluded.

The Minister who is also member of the political bureau of the Party for Progress and socialism (PPS), was speaking at a meeting hosted by the "Socialist Alliance". He said that Morocco has achieved progress in these negotiations, recalling in this respect the setting up of a special task force to negotiate the agricultural trade of the FTA.

Concerning the sector of pharmaceutical drugs, considered also as sensitive, the Minister said the FTA -projected to be signed this year- aims at establishing standards in the field of intellectual property protection, invention patent and confidential formula contained in the application for drugs marketing licence.

As far as the cultural aspect is concerned, the Minister said that the Moroccan negotiators have managed to keep subsidies granted by the state to the cultural and audio-visual production.

Morocco and the US are expected to sign this year a Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) after six rounds of negotiations in 2003. The decision to conclude the FTA was taken during a visit of H.M King Mohammed VI to the United States in April 2002. © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Privatisation keeps Morocco
By Souhail Karam RABAT, Feb 18 (Reuters)

Morocco needs to boost the productivity of its agriculture-based economy as privatisation revenues -- last year coming from the tobacco sector -- will not last forever, analysts said. The Kingdom must address its worsening trade deficit, falling receipts and stagnant investments to slice its sizeable debt despite clocking up 5.5 percent economic growth last year. Privatisations yielded 14 billion dirhams ($1.6 billion) last year to help lower the public debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio to 68.2 percent from 71.4 percent in 2002. "They are selling assets to fund expenditure, but sometimes you run out of assets," Peter Worthington, Emerging Markets Research Director at Credit Suisse First Boston in London, told Reuters.

Lahcen Daoudi, economist and opposition member of parliament, agreed: "The impact is temporary and not structural. The deficit can reach up to seven percent without privatisations...and domestic debt's rise offsets foreign debt's fall," he said. The North African country's economy was also helped last year by the agriculture sector, a weakening local currency against the euro and higher remittances by expatriates. The budget deficit, however, rose from 4.4 percent in 2002 to 5.0 percent -- privatisation excluded -- last year. Morocco, a staunch U.S. ally with close commercial and cultural ties to Europe, is a poor country with more than a fifth of the population below the poverty line, chronic urban unemployment and an under-developed infrastructure.

RISING DOMESTIC DEBT
The rise in domestic debt has been a trend over the past five years as the treasury snubbed hard-currency loans for a cheaper local money market offering abundant liquidity. But, a debt market analyst noted on condition of anonymity, this trend might not be an everlasting safe option.
"Morocco might very well seek to reschedule domestic debt if it fails to make the economy more open and aggressive or basically without privatisations," he said. The sale to foreign firms of a second mobile phone licence in 1999, stakes in Maroc Telecom in 2000 and in tobacco monopoly in 2003 helped the economy post its best-ever performance.

But analysts say far better results could have been achieved with reforms."The most efficient and probably the hardest way to cut debt and post high economic growth is to restore local investors' confidence by reforming justice and fighting red-tape and corruption," the debt market analyst added. Daoudi said the North African country would have won more by restructuring its local firms. "We started restructuring the economy in 2004 while it has been awaited since 1994," he said in reference to a plan to upgrade local firms' productivity ahead of a 2012 deadline for the total abolition of tariffs with the European Union.

While public debt servicing will cost 41.6 billion dirhams, customs receipts will fall 14.5 percent in 2004 mainly because of a gradual free trade deal with the EU, which accounts for 70 percent of Morocco's foreign trade.
Authorities will also have to deal with what they describe as an inefficient public sector, of which the wage bill absorbs 12.5 percent of GDP.
Morocco plans to sell in the short to medium-term stakes in the country's largest bank Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP), flagship carrier Royal Air Maroc (RAM), railways board ONCF and other firms. (Reuters Messaging:souhail.karam.reuters.com@reuters.net; +212-37 720065, editing by Malcolm Whittaker)) ($1=8.610 Moroccan dirhams) Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited.
http://www.borsaitalia.it/fwa-cgi-bin/news.pl?id=1077125388nL17175238&tit=Privatisation%20keeps%20Morocco
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Moroccan exporters complain from heavy transportation costs Morocco
Economics, 2/19/2004

Transportation costs reach up to 20% of exports expenses, complained in Casablanca Tuesday president of the Moroccan exporters association (ASMEX), Abdellatif Belmadani, citing other obstacles to exports such as complex procedures, irregular links, the non-respect of deadlines and the weak capacity, mainly in air transport. Speaking at a symposium on relations between transport and exports, Belmadani deplored that Moroccan exports are losing important assets at the level of competitiveness, calling for action on major axes, namely costs, sector regulation, deadlines and providing good quality logistics.

In a speech read out at the opening of the encounter, equipment and transport minister, Abdelkrim Ghellab, said the government grants paramount importance to the development of transport so it accompanies the kingdom's openness and the changes of world economy. The projected reforms concern legal, institutional and infrastructure aspects of the sector to encourage private initiatives and attract national and foreign investments in the sector, he said.

According to the Moroccan confederation of road transport (CNTR), transport represents 6% of the GDP and 9% of tertiary sectors. It absorbs 25% of national energy consumption and employs 6% of active population. Transport taxes make 15% of the state budget. According to the confederation, over 95% of foreign trade is done by sea. Goods that are transited by Moroccan ports in 2003 reached some 57 million tons while 17.5 tons were shipped across roads. Air transport currently represents 0.11% of quantity and 5% of the value of the kingdom's trade according to the national airliner RAM. In his speech, Ghellab said maritime transport has been liberalized almost totally, deploring, however, that the Moroccan fleet's participation in sea traffic to and from Morocco does not exceed 12%.
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H.M. King Mohammed VI Launches construction of mental rehab center in Essaouira
ESSAOUIRA (southwest), Feb.18

H.M. King Mohammed VI launched here Wednesday construction works of a rehabilitation center of mentally handicapped persons. The 2 million dirham (US$ 222,000) project will cover 2672 m². It includes a reception desk, a multi-purpose room, a health center, 5 dorms, and other dependencies. Were present at the ceremony advisers to H.M. king Mohammed VI, Andre Azoulay and Zoulikha Nasri and other officials.

The sovereign was briefed on other projects in the province, mainly residences for pupils of the Talmest, Bidzad and Ait Daoud regions to fight the dropout phenomenon. The projects, to cost some 3.6 million Dirhams (US$ 400,000), will benefit some 100 pupils each. Each residence includes three dormitories, a multi-purpose room, a library and other dependencies. H.M. King Mohammed VI later inquired about construction works and equipment of a cooperative for women working in Argan oil in the Lahssinate province. The project will enable training of some 50 women. H.M. the king had earlier chaired the signing ceremony of a convention between the government and local authorities on the building of 143 km of rural roads in the Essaouira province. © MAP 2004
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H.M. King Mohammed VI Chairs Signing of Convention for Construction of 143 km of Rural Roads in Essaouira Region
ESSAOUIRA, Feb.18

H.M. King Mohammed VI chaired this Wednesday in the locality of Korimate (50km east of Essaouira) the signing ceremony of a convention between the government and local authorities for the construction of 143 km of rural roads in the region. The 2004-2007 road project in the province of Essaouira (southwest Morocco) consists of 14 operations for the construction of 143 km of rural roads, for a cost of 100 million DH (around US$ 11.5 million). The budget will be equally contributed by the equipment ministry and the Essaouira provincial council.

The roads are expected to break the isolation of 152,000 inhabitants scattered in 23 communes by giving them access to 10 health centers and 80 schools. The sovereign also launched the program's first 28 km-long road that will be completed in 18 months at a cost of 15.8 million DH (US$ 1.8 Mln). The sovereign was also briefed on a project to supply drinking water to 14,600 inhabitants in 52 villages. The project, carried out through Morocco-Germany cooperation , is scheduled to be completed by January 2005, with an estimated budget of 27 million DH (US$ 2.9 Mln). MAP 2004 http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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H.M. King Mohamed VI chairs signing of convention for new tourism compound in Essaouira
ESSAOUIRA (South of Rabat), Feb.17

H.M. King Mohammed VI chaired, here Tuesday, the signing ceremony of a convention between the Moroccan government and an international holding for the construction of the Mogador new tourism compound near this southern Atlantic city. The new compound, located four kilometres south of Essaouira, extends over 400 ha. It comprises 18 hotels, with a capacity of 5,700 beds, residences with an accommodation capacity of 8,700 beds and other leisure sites, including two golf courses. The project will require an investment estimated at 4.7 billion DH (US$ 540 million), including 2 billion DH to be brought by the holding, 2.6 billion DH by other developers and 150 million DH to be contributed by the state for out-of-site infrastructure.

Works to be completed in 7 years will create 3,000 direct jobs and 15,000 indirect ones. The international holding, grouping Piron, L'Atelier, Rimsa and Colbert Orco will be in charge of the site preparation and the construction of two hotels, two golf courses and a part of the residences.

The convention stipulates that the holding shall respect the regional architectural features and promote the local potentials and richness. The Mogador compound is one of the six sea resort stations Morocco intends to build along its 3,500 km coasts, as part of the Azure Plan, to reach the target of 10 million tourists by 2010. Tourism contributes 8% to the GDP and secured receipts worth 4.55 billion in
2003 (US$ 529.6 million). The number of new beds rose from 3,800 in 2001 to 8,500 in 2003. © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Locust Situation Totally Under Control in Morocco
RABAT, Feb.20

The locust situation in Morocco is totally under control and surveillance and struggle control are being carried on, said the center post of anti-hover fight coordination. The source said following the appearance of locusts swarms coming from Mauritania, Moroccan authorities set up last October a series of search and fight posts equipped with means to air and ground insecticides spraying machinery. To date, 85,000 hectares were sprayed.  The situation became alarming last October 17 when strong winds in southern Morocco pushed the hovers to the southern Atlantic coasts and the day after large swarms were led along the Atlantic shore to the city of El Jadida. © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Morocco reached 1,500 new internet subscriptions monthly
Morocco, Economics, 2/20/2004

Minister of trade, industry and telecommunications, Rachid Talbi Alami, said the IT sector experiences considerable progress in the kingdom, with 1,500 new connections to the internet every month. In an interview posted Wednesday on the website of the Moroccan provider IAM in the fringes of Casablanca's 12th IT fair "Sit'Expo," Talbi Alami said the sector is in "good health," predicting that 2004 will be the Internet year, with IAM cutting its prices in favor of SMEs and creating new infrastructure to meet the growing demand. The Moroccan operator has recently cut its prices and introduced ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), significantly increasing connection speed. Sit'Expo features an exhibition of products and services by companies in Morocco and abroad, professional encounters and strategic debates by international keynote speakers, specialized presentations on recruitment, Internet, partnership and outsourcing.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040220/2004022022.html
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New Moroccan Labor code to improve and protect women's labor rights
Morocco, Politics, 2/18/2004

The newly enacted Labor Code in Morocco aims at improving and protecting women's rights at work, said, here Tuesday, Moroccan minister in charge of Moroccan expatriates. Nouzha Chekrouni who was addressing the 31st ordinary session of the Arab Labor organization (ALO) held in Damascus February 14-21, underlined the reforms undertaken by Morocco with the adoption of the new Family Code and the new Labor Code, both of them, she said, aim at improving women's status. Chekrouni who is also Secretary General of the Arab Woman Commission at the ALO laid emphasis on the need to establish what she called a "communication with women competences abroad to support the struggle of Arab women, in particular the expatriates, against the exclusion and inequalities they are facing in the host countries."
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040218/2004021822.html
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Morocco's e-administration project Idarati to cost $6.8 million
Morocco, Economics, 2/14/2004

Morocco's e-administration project "Idarati" (literally my administration), aimed at developing central and territorial management tools, will cost the government 62 million dirhams (around $6.8 million). The project will enable users' access to administrative services through desks, bank counters, telephone and Internet, and an intranet network will be interconnecting administrations. The project is meant to favor inter-administrative communication, enhance decentralization and encourage IT use among citizens through fast and less costly "paperless" services.

Moroccan minister of public sectors modernization, Najib Zerouali, said Idarati, which will help improve standards of public conduct and consolidate democracy, will be implemented gradually in coordination between all departments and with the collaboration of the UNDP, in the perspective of its full implementation by 2007. On the Internet high cost in Morocco and potential problems, the minister said the Moroccan phone operator and internet provider "IAM" is undertaking parallel efforts to reduce connection cost.

Concerning the lack in computer and network specialists among administrative staffs (Only 12,000 civil servants, i.e. 0.3% of the total number), he said Morocco is carrying out a scheme to train some 5,000 technicians and engineers to fill the gap, adding that 2,000 to 3,000 employers have so far completed a training in IT. He also deplored the meager budget (0.9% of the overall budget) earmarked to IT in Morocco saying that while new technologies are used in Moroccan universities, their application in other sectors remains low. The minister called for international cooperation in the realm to bridge the digital divide between developed and developing countries.
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/040214/2004021422.html
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Magazine showcases liberal voices from Morocco
Monday February 16, 2004 PORTLAND, Maine (AP)

A new magazine launched by a University of New England professor and an Internet entrepreneur in Connecticut seeks to showcase liberal voices from their Moroccan homeland. The first issue of Tingis, a quarterly believed to be the world's only English-language periodical about Morocco, came out in November, with 20,000 copies printed. Anouar Majid, the 43-year-old chairman of the English Department at the University of New England in Biddeford, is editor of Tingis. He hopes that the magazine will counter images of Islamic fundamentalists that dominate the American media as well as Arab stereotypes of the United States. ``People want to force you both sides into a category,'' he said.

Tingis, which is subtitled ``A Moroccan-American Magazine of Ideas and Culture,'' features articles on religion, art, literature and film. The first issue provides a glimpse into the complexity of a society that is part of Africa, but also has Mediterranean and Arab influences. Politics are sometimes discussed, but never in a confrontational way. ``I would love to have political pieces, but not polemical ones,'' Majid said. ``Too many people are doing those.''

A few years ago, Majid was interviewed on Wafin.com, an Internet portal for Moroccan-Americans. The article caught the attention of Khalid Gourad, who owns the Web site; the two met in spring 2002 in Portland to discuss launching a magazine.  Majid says it's not a coincidence that the magazine was hatched in the months that followed Sept. 11, 2001. A French Moroccan, Zacarias Moussaoui, was being prosecuted in connection with the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. But the nuances of Moroccan society were often obscured by broad generalizations about the ``Arab world.''

That response was frustrating to Majid, who was raised in the international city of Tangier, just nine miles from Spain and even closer to English-speaking Gibraltar. He acknowledges that today he feels a greater affinity with Spain than with much of the Middle East. Majid hopes to publish articles by Jews, Christians and atheists, points of view in the Middle East that are often drowned out by Islamic fundamentalism. Morocco's rich pre-Islamic history is the source of the magazine's title, he says. Tingis was the mythical wife of Antaeus and, later, Hercules. Majid's magazine may have a limited circulation there are only about 70,000 Moroccan-Americans, he says but it has struck a chord. ``People kind of like it. People think there's a huge operation behind it or something,'' Majid said with a laugh. ``It's by two people who have never done a magazine before.''
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) http://cbs4boston.com/menews/ME--MoroccanMagazine-en/resources_news_html
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HM King Mohammed VI Launches New Neighborhood, water supply and Liquid Sanitation projects in Agadir
AGADIR, Feb.19

HM King Mohammed VI launched Thursday in the Anza province (Agadir prefecture) construction works of a new neighborhood, called the Taddart center, consisting of low-cost housing. The housing compound, to cost 440 million dirhams (US$ 50.5 Mln), is part of endeavors to fight unhealthy housing and the "Slum-free city" program.

The project, extending over 80 hectares, will accommodate 4,070 families living in the nearby slums and re-organize 3,600 unauthorized lodgings. It will also make available for private developers equipped land plots to build low-cost flats for the personnel of projected tourism projects in the region. The flats are to be sold at a unit price of no more than 200,000 Dirhams (around US$ 23,000).

According to figures of the urbanism department, some 11,700 families live in Agadir slums, some 33,800 in under-equipped districts and 1,967 in decaying houses. Agadir's housing deficit reached 37,000 units in 2002. The sovereign later dedicated the first part of the liquid sewerage program and launched works of the second part, scheduled to be completed in 2010. The 1.25 billion DH project aims at improving the quality of beach waters in the bay of Agadir, purifying the Oued Souss river, protecting the city's urban agglomerations against floods and recycling waste waters.

The program is financed by Agadir multi-service agency RAMSA (140 million DH), the European Bank of Investments (250 millions) and the French development agency AFD (150 million DH). On the same site, HM the king launched construction works to reinforce drinking water production using the Prince Moulay Abdellah dam. A budget of 750 million dirhams (US$ 86.2 Mln) was earmarked for the works, part of Moroccan- Japanese cooperation.  © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Morocco announces 12% drop in external debt, 5.5% increase in growth rate
Morocco, Economics, 2/18/2004

Moroccan minister of finance and privatization, Fathallah Oualalou, announced Monday that the Moroccan economy has posted in 2003 a 5.5% growth rate, a 1.2% inflation rate and a budget deficit accounting for 3.5% of the GDP. The official told reporters Morocco's public debt was lowered by 16.6 billion DH (one US$ is about 9 DH) from 142.3 billion DH in Dec 2002 to 125.7 billion DH end of 2003, while internal debt increased by 20.1 billion DH (from 191.5 billion DH to 211.6 billion DH).

Meanwhile, he went on, the balance of payments posted a surplus accounting for 3% of the GDP, compared to 4.1% in 2002 and 4.8% in 2001. Tourism receipts were maintained at 29.3 billion DH despite an unfavorable context resulting from the war in Iraq and the terrorist attacks in Casablanca (May 2003) while remittances by Moroccan expatriates progressed by 7.4% to total 34 billion DH.

Morocco's external trade was marked by a slight increase of imports (4%) and a decrease of exports (3.6%) and foreign investments and private loans totaled 21.8 billion DH in 2003, said the minister who added that Morocco foreign currency reserves were worth US$ 14 billion, which equals 10 months of imports.
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Movenpick Hotel Chain Eyes Four or Five More Hotels in Morocco
RABAT, Feb.16

Swiss hotel chain "Movenpick Hotels" said it will consolidate its presence in Morocco with four or five hotels, following the good results posted by its Tangiers unit in 2003. The company's president, Jean Gabriel Peres, said its five-star hotel in the northern city of Tangiers had an occupancy rate of 47% and posted a 53 million Dirhams (about US$ 6 million) turnover in 2003. The executive told "L'Economiste" daily he contacted several Moroccan investors on partnership possibilities during last week's national convention on tourism in Casablanca. The luxury hotels chain, which is among the world's 100 top hotel operators, has posted a turnover of 2.8 billion DH in 2002 and is planning to double its activities in the five coming years. Saudi Kingdom Holding owns a third of the group capital. © MAP 2004
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm
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Kuwait, Morocco initial loan agreement for Highway project  
ECO-MOROCCO-KUWAIT-HIGHWAYS 
RABAT, Feb 20 (KUNA) -- Kuwait and Morocco Friday initialed the agreement for a 18.5 million KD loan from Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) to finance a highway project to connect the port of Tangiers and the  northern highway network in Morocco.  The planned highway stretches 54 kilometers and would be co-funded by Arab Development Fund and the Moroccan Highway Company. The project would be
launched in a few months and the road is to be open for traffic by the time  the port of Tangiers is operational in 2007.  In statements to KUNA, KFAED's Economic Advisor Tariq Yousif Al-Mnayyis,  who initialed the agreement on behalf of KFAED, said this is an important  project to connect the port of Tangiers to the highway network in Morocco,  mostly constructed with KFAED support. 

The port of Tangiers is the biggest project in Morocco at present at an estimated cost of 1.2 billion USD. The port is expected to become the biggest  in the north of Africa and the plans include docks for tankers and freight  vessels, an industrial city and a free zone.  The project's importance lies in the fact that it would connect all  economic, trade, and social activities in the area and connect these to future  activity areas connected to the port project. This would support Morocco's GDP  on both the medium and long term, the official said.   -- Al-Mnayyis added the fund is currently considering a  60-kilometer-railroad project to connect the port to the city of Tangiers and  another to connect the port to the 1300-kilometer- railroad network. 

This is in addition to other projects to expand supply of electricity in rural regions within the framework of the state program to supply 80 percent  of the state's regions with power by 2007 and 90 percent by the year 2009.  He said KFAED would send a delegation to Morocco to consider these projects  and conduct the necessary talks with authorities to decide which project takes  priority.  He noted Morocco is a very successful and rewarding area for KFAED  investments as it is initiating infrastructure and highly feasible projects in  all regions and sectors, thus boosting the overall economic and social life in  Morocco.  The official pointed out Morocco had realized admirable macroeconomic results in 2003, which included reduction of foreign debt down to 14 billion  USD, maintaining deficit at 2.5 percent and lower, keeping inflation below 1.5  percent and achieving considerable reform and stability which lures foreign  investment and capital.  KFAED is satisfied with its cooperation with Morocco and is willing to  boost its contributions as the state abounds with investment opportunities and potential in infrastructure development.  Up to January 2004, KFAED loans to Morocco reached the sum of 258.87 million KD to finance 20 projects. These are all soft loans which mature in 22  years in average and grace period of five years in average and 3.7 percent  interest.
tq.wsa KUNA 201836 Feb 04NNNN
http://www.kuna.net.kw/English/Story.asp?Dsno=604002

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