2024-01-20 15:54:53
“The diversification of our economy is what will allow us to grow. This includes multiple sectors including industry, tourism, and others which are experiencing a recovery,” she indicated in an interview with to the channel “CNBC Arabia”, on the sidelines of his participation in the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“We are also banking on the confidence of local and foreign investors who always maintain the pace of their investments to create job opportunities and strengthen growth,” continued the government official.
The global economic situation, she observed, is exerting strong pressure on Morocco’s economy and public finances, noting that certain sectors such as industry and tourism have been able to recover following successive crises, thus finding the path to growth.
And to specify that in order to deal with the current unrest, the government, under the enlightened leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, has put in place urgent but targeted programs, with the aim of dealing with the rise in prices, scarcity of water resources and worsening inflation.
“The most important thing for us is that the intervention and the program be very rapid so that these disruptions do not affect the performance of businesses and the economy of the Kingdom,” noted Ms. Fettah.
In the same vein, the minister indicated that Morocco has been suffering for years from a serious drought, which has had a negative impact on the economy, specifying that “under the High Instructions of His Majesty the King, the most “Great importance is given to this project.”
“We have adopted a government program between 2026 and 2027 that will cost around $15 billion, which includes multiple dimensions: first, accelerating solutions around seawater desalination. We currently have a production capacity of “around 200 million cubic meters, and the goal is to reach 1.4 billion cubic meters within five or six years,” she assured.
The minister also mentioned the continuation of the dam construction program and the completion of river highways which concern areas where water is abundant, in order to use these water resources in other areas suffering from shortages.
According to Ms. Fettah, the year 2023 is expected to record a growth rate of 3.4%, despite the decline of the agricultural sector, which nevertheless experienced significant growth compared to 2022.
The minister further noted that the Kingdom is facing two types of inflation, the first being imported inflation linked to energy and transport prices.
In this area, she said, “we have chosen to grant targeted subsidies by the State so that there is no impact on the entire economy. (… ) I am referring here to transport or electricity, for which we have kept prices at an appropriate level so that there are no effects on growth.
As for the second type of inflation which concerns food products and the agricultural sector, Ms. Fettah noted that an emergency program of around 10 billion dirhams was approved in 2023 to support production chains.
“So, since last September, we have started to see that the rate of food inflation, which affects a number of families, has started to gradually decrease, and a rate of 6% is expected at the end of December,” she said.
“What we want now is to maintain the pace of reforms. To gain credibility in these reforms and have funding, we must maintain this pace which makes it possible to reduce the budget deficit annually,” said Ms. Fettah, noting that maintaining balance is a red line and an extremely important issue.
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