
Foreign Direct Investment
According to UNCTAD's World Investment Report 2022, FDI flows to Morocco reached USD 2.1 billion in 2021, up by more than half compared to one year earlier. Similarly, the total stock of FDIs stood at USD 72.9 billion or around 55.5% of GDP. Morocco's FDI profile is quite diversified, with a consolidated presence of some large multinationals in manufacturing industries, including automotive, aerospace and textiles. In 2021, more than half of the FDI inflows to Morocco have been concentrated in three sectors: real estate activities (27%), manufacturing industries (17.3%) and financial and insurance activities (11.3%). The main investing countries have been France (historically the main investor), the United Arab Emirates, the UK, the U.S. and the Netherlands. In terms of stocks, agriculture has the highest share, followed by financial and insurance activities, mining and quarrying, ICT and wholesale and retail trade. According to the latest figures from the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office, in the first eleven months of 2022, FDI flows to Morocco increased by 31.5% to MAD 35.3 billion, whereas Moroccan investments abroad reached MAD 17.3 billion, the highest level in the last five years (+7.1% y-o-y).
After the positive results of the Industrial Acceleration Plan 2014-2020, a vast project of economic modernisation to attract more FDI, the government launched a second phase for 2021-2025 focused mainly on the consolidation of the achievements made within the framework of the first phase of the plan (which, among other results, created 54 industrial systems in partnership with 32 professional associations and universities in various sectors) and their generalization to all regions, by integrating small and medium enterprises and by placing industry at the heart of technological transformations. Among the reasons to invest in Morocco, there are the relatively low cost of labour, its strategic location, between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa, good infrastructures and the stability of the country’s currency and political framework. On the other hand, Morocco still has significant social and regional disparities, weak productivity and low competitiveness and an economy heavily reliant on the price of hydrocarbons and the agricultural sector. Morocco ranks 67th out of 132 in the 2022 Global Innovation Index and 87th out of 180 in the Corruption Perception Index.
Foreign Direct Investment | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 |
FDI Inward Flow (million USD) | 1,720 | 1,419 | 2,153 |
FDI Stock (million USD) | 66,551 | 71,975 | 72,941 |
Number of Greenfield Investments* | 111 | 62 | 52 |
Value of Greenfield Investments (million USD) | 3,069 | 2,469 | 1,816 |
Source: UNCTAD - Latest available data.
Note: * Greenfield Investments are a form of Foreign Direct Investment where a parent company starts a new venture in a foreign country by constructing new operational facilities from the ground up.
Country Comparison For the Protection of Investors | Morocco | Middle East & North Africa | United States | Germany |
Index of Transaction Transparency* | 9.0 | 6.4 | 7.0 | 5.0 |
Index of Manager’s Responsibility** | 2.0 | 4.8 | 9.0 | 5.0 |
Index of Shareholders’ Power*** | 7.0 | 4.7 | 9.0 | 5.0 |
Source: Doing Business - Latest available data.
Note: *The Greater the Index, the More Transparent the Conditions of Transactions. **The Greater the Index, the More the Manager is Personally Responsible. *** The Greater the Index, the Easier it Will Be For Shareholders to Take Legal Action.
