Morocco Exports 4.5% of Electricity Production

Morocco Exports 4.5% of Electricity Production
TT

Morocco Exports 4.5% of Electricity Production

Morocco Exports 4.5% of Electricity Production

Morocco has begun to promote its new image as a source of clean energy, by implementing mega projects to exploit wind and solar energy to generate electricity.

The Kingdom has become an exporter for electricity after being an importer, through the high-voltage lines linking Algeria and Spain.

During the first seven months of 2019, the value of its electricity exports increased by 916.5 percent, accounting for 4.5 percent of its electricity production, up from 0.6 percent in 2018.

Morocco’s domestic electricity consumption, in turn, rose by 0.7 percent after a 1.4 percent decline during the same period last year.

Electricity production during this period increased by 24.4 percent after a six percent increase over the same period last year due to a 47.2 percent increase in private sector production after 4.2 percent in 2018 when many projects had become fully operational.

In addition to that, a significant rise was seen in the production of projects developed under the law (13-09), which allows Moroccan companies from the private and public sectors to use renewable energies to produce electricity needed and sell the surplus locally or export it through contracts with industrial customers.

Electricity production increased by 59.3 percent in the first seven months of this year.

While the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water’s (ONEE) production had seen a decline during this period by 22 percent.



China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
TT

China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.