Morocco: Government Backs 28 Projects Worth $2.4 Bn

Meeting of Morocco's Investment Commission (Asharq al-Awsat)
Meeting of Morocco's Investment Commission (Asharq al-Awsat)
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Morocco: Government Backs 28 Projects Worth $2.4 Bn

Meeting of Morocco's Investment Commission (Asharq al-Awsat)
Meeting of Morocco's Investment Commission (Asharq al-Awsat)

Morocco's Investment Commission, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani, approved Wednesday 28 new investment projects worth $2.4 billion in various sectors.

The committee studies projects worth over $21 million and approves their governmental support either directly or through the Hassan II Development Fund. It also approves the privatization of public facilities for the private investment projects.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Committee's meeting, Othmani explained that the projects presented were diverse and tackle various vital sectors, such as industry, tourism, leisure, health, transport and infrastructure.

He stressed that the meeting comes within the context of the government's keenness to continue to implement a number of structural reforms aimed at stimulating and supporting investment and enhancing the confidence of private investors in the business climate in Morocco.

The PM indicated that the government is also working on a number of legislative reforms aimed at modernizing the legal aspects of business, improving Morocco's image as a preferred destination for investors.

The government also aims to improve Morocco's ranking in the World Bank's annual "Doing Business" report, which will put Morocco among the top fifty economies in the world.

In this context, the Prime Minister noted that the government prepared a draft law relating to movable collateral, with the aim of facilitating contracting to various funding sources available through the provision of movable collateral.

The draft also wants to improve the competitive conditions of contracting through securing financing for investments and consolidating the principles and rules of transparency in transactions relating to movable collateral.

In addition, Othmani informed the press that two bills on changing and completing the law relating to incorporated companies, as well as the law pertaining to partnership, limited partnership, partnership in commendam, and limited liability companies.

This will help enhance the protection of small investors and establish the principle of transparency and good governance as well as national legal arsenal with international standards.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
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Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."