The Moroccan economy is expected to grow to 3.4 percent in 2020, after it dropped to 2.7 percent in 2019 due to the drought's impact on crops, according to the Moroccan Statistics Directorate.
This growth would rely on an increase in domestic demand, stemming from an improvement in the consumption of households due to the implementation of the second phase of the salary raise, as well as the anticipated consolidation of investments in infrastructure and giant industrial projects.
Within its outlook plans for 2020, the directorate expected the domestic demand to undergo a 3.2 percent rise in 2020 in contrast to 2.8 percent in 2019. It also forecast that its contribution to the economic growth rate would rise to 3.5 percent in 2020, compared to 2.9 percent in 2019.
As for the foreign demand, the directorate expected its contribution to the growth in 2020 to reach an estimate of -1 due to the gap of imports and exports, as well as the slow recovery of Morocco trade partners, especially the EU.
In this regard, it said Moroccan exports are likely to grow by 8.1 percent instead of 7.2 percent in 2019, making use of the anticipated growth in the car industry and Moroccan traditional exports.
The directorate also expected Moroccan imports to witness a rise of 6.7 percent in 2020, compared to 6.5 percent in 2019.
Inflation would rise slightly to 1 percent in 2020 from 0.8 percent in 2019, while unemployment would relapse to 9.9 percent from 10 percent in 2019.
