Morocco

Morocco’s market economy benefits from the country’s relatively low labor costs and proximity to Europe, which aid key areas of the economy such as agriculture, light manufacturing, tourism, and remittances. Morocco is also the world’s largest exporter of phosphate, which has long provided a source of export earnings and economic stability. Economic policies pursued since 2003 by King MOHAMMED VI have brought macroeconomic stability to the country with generally low inflation, improved financial performance, and steady progress in developing the service and industrial sectors. In 2006, Morocco entered a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US, and in 2008 entered into an advanced status in its 2000 Association Agreement with the EU. However, poverty, illiteracy, and unemployment rates remain high. In response to these challenges, King MOHAMMED in 2005 launched a National Initiative for Human Development, a $2 billion program aimed at alleviating poverty and underdevelopment by expanding electricity to rural areas and replacing urban slums with public and subsidized housing, among other policies. Morocco’s trade and budget deficits widened in 2010, and reducing govenment spending and adapting to sluggish economic growth in Europe will be challenges in 2011. Morocco’s long-term challenges include improving education and job prospects for young Moroccans, closing the disparity in wealth between the rich and the poor, confronting corruption, and expanding and diversifying exports beyond phosphates and low-value-added products.

$153.8 billion (2010 est.)

$147.6 billion (2009 est.)

$140.6 billion (2008 est.)

$91.7 billion (2010 est.)

4.2% (2010 est.)

4.9% (2009 est.)

5.6% (2008 est.)

$4,900 (2010 est.)

$4,700 (2009 est.)

$4,500 (2008 est.)

11.63 million (2010 est.)

9.8% (2010 est.)

9.1% (2009 est.)

15% (2007 est.)

40.9 (2005 est.)

39.5 (1999 est.)

30.2% of GDP (2010 est.)

58.2% of GDP (2010 est.)

56.9% of GDP (2009 est.)

2.5% (2010 est.)

1% (2009 est.)

3.31% (31 December 2009)

3.32% (31 December 2008)

6.5% (31 December 2008)

$67.33 billion (31 December 2010 est)

$64.58 billion (31 December 2009 est)

$108.7 billion (31 December 2009)

$99.5 billion (31 December 2008)

$93.21 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$91.83 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$62.91 billion (31 December 2009)

$65.75 billion (31 December 2008)

$75.49 billion (31 December 2007)

barley, wheat, citrus fruits, grapes, vegetables, olives; livestock; wine

phosphate rock mining and processing, food processing, leather goods, textiles, construction, energy, tourism

4.4% (2010 est.)

19.78 billion kWh (2008 est.)

20.78 billion kWh (2007 est.)

0 kWh (2008 est.)

3.429 billion kWh (2009 est.)

4,053 bbl/day (2009 est.)

187,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

17,420 bbl/day (2007 est.)

195,800 bbl/day (2007 est.)

100 million bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

60 million cu m (2008 est.)

560 million cu m (2008 est.)

0 cu m (2008 est.)

500 million cu m (2008 est.)

1.501 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

-$7.922 billion (2010 est.)

-$4.958 billion (2009 est.)

$14.49 billion (2010 est.)

$13.92 billion (2009 est.)

clothing and textiles, electric components, inorganic chemicals, transistors, crude minerals, fertilizers (including phosphates), petroleum products, citrus fruits, vegetables, fish

Spain 22.02%, France 20.22%, India 4.91%, Italy 4% (2009)

$34.19 billion (2010 est.)

$30.55 billion (2009 est.)

crude petroleum, textile fabric, telecommunications equipment, wheat, gas and electricity, transistors, plastics

France 16.95%, Spain 14.72%, China 7.1%, Italy 6.76%, Germany 6.28%, US 5.66%, Saudi Arabia 5.11% (2009)

$24.57 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$23.58 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$22.69 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$21.12 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$42.19 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$40.72 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$1.047 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.333 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

Moroccan dirhams (MAD) per US dollar - 8.3619 (2010), 8.0571 (2009), 7.526 (2008), 8.3563 (2007), 8.7722 (2006)