Morocco has adopted a new Investment Charter. What are the stakes and objectives of this charter?
In the Speech delivered on 14 October 2022, at the opening of the parliamentary session, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, once again stressed investment as a driver of economic and social development, setting the target of MAD 550 billion of investment and 500,000 new jobs over the period 2022-2026.
Framework Bill 03-22 forming the investment charter, proposed by the government and approved by the House of Representatives on 18 October 2022, is a key element in achieving these objectives. The investment charter aims to reverse the current split between public and private investment so as to raise the latter to two thirds of total investment by 2035, in line with the spirit of the New Development Model.
The new Investment Charter has clear guidelines. It offers a framework that is at once clear and transparent, incentivising and attractive. It is aimed at all those who wish to take part in this new phase of the Kingdom’s development, at all those who see themselves in a promising future. The Charter is aimed at all investors, from VSMEs to large groups, at domestic or foreign investors, as well as at Moroccan companies wishing to expand internationally.
This new Charter marks a genuine break in the way investment is supported and encouraged. It will make it possible to develop existing businesses but also to attract domestic and international investors towards new activities with high potential.
In addition to directly supporting investment, the Charter provides for continued improvement of the business environment, consolidating the climate of confidence that makes Morocco a land conducive to investment and entrepreneurship.
“Through measures relating to administrative simplification, access to land and improved financing conditions, the new Investment Charter aims to make the act of investing easier by simplifying the investor’s journey.”
How does the Investment Charter make the act of investing in Morocco easier?
We want to instil a new way of doing business and taking risks. That is why simplifying procedures and simplifying the act of investing are at the heart of the Charter, to give our economy the impetus it needs.
Through measures relating to administrative simplification, access to land and improved financing conditions, the new Investment Charter aims to make the act of investing easier by simplifying the investor’s journey.
The new Investment Charter establishes a comprehensive support system based on a main investment support scheme and three specific support schemes: for strategic projects, for the international development of Moroccan companies, and for very small, small and medium-sized enterprises. These unprecedented support schemes cover all categories of projects and players.
In addition, a scheme of common, territorial and sectoral bonuses has been drawn up, and these bonuses, if combined, can reach up to 30% of the eligible investment amount. To qualify, the investment project will have to meet a set of criteria aimed at achieving our socio-economic development objectives. In particular, the schemes are designed to encourage investors to contribute to the creation of stable jobs and to promote gender equality, sustainability, local integration and territorial equity, by offering more attractive incentives to address the challenges of the Kingdom’s various provinces and prefectures.
As for strategic projects, that is to say projects of a sovereign nature that strengthen the Kingdom’s strategic autonomy, such as projects in the defence industry, they will benefit from a specific scheme.
The Investment Charter also aims to improve the business climate. How does this translate in practice?
In recent decades, Morocco has spared no effort in embarking on a large-scale reform process through a policy of major structuring projects, in order to raise its business climate to the level of the best-performing nations in the world.
It is striking to note that Morocco has made a qualitative leap in infrastructure, notably its motorway networks, the high-speed train and the Tanger-Med port. Our country has the best infrastructure on the continent. Not forgetting the creation of industrial acceleration zones and export zones.
It is therefore not surprising that the Kingdom was ranked 3rd among the 50 most attractive economies for FDI in 2023 by the Financial Times, a benchmark for decision-makers.
The new Investment Charter aims to further improve this business climate as a whole, and more particularly in seven priority areas, namely: simplifying procedures, facilitating access to real estate, strengthening logistics competitiveness, facilitating access to green energy, setting up suitable training programmes, promoting R&D activities and access to new technologies, and finally, diversifying sources of financing.
These strategic projects are part of the new 2023-2026 roadmap for improving the business environment of the Ministry of Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies.
We are currently experiencing a genuine tipping point. International investors’ interest in the Kingdom has accelerated since the end of the pandemic and since the crisis in Ukraine. By offering political and economic stability, access to abundant and competitive renewable energy, and an industrial base built on high-quality human resources, our value proposition is exceptional in this context. Morocco has a skilled and talented young population. International contractors have not been mistaken and see our human capital as a driver of their future growth.
Moreover, Morocco offers sunshine, a green resource with one of the highest levels of irradiation in the world, and we also have wind with an exceptional load factor. When the two are combined, we benefit from an extremely abundant and competitive renewable resource that we can make available not only to operators already established here, but also to those seeking precisely to reduce their energy bill. So the combination of these two events, the Covid-19 crisis and the energy crisis, means that operators considering investing or exporting from Morocco view us with much more interest than in the past.
Morocco is positioning itself as a reliable alternative.