Standard & Poor’s Raises Morocco's Rating Outlook From Negative to Stable

Standard & Poor’s Raises Morocco's Rating Outlook From Negative to Stable
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Standard & Poor’s Raises Morocco's Rating Outlook From Negative to Stable

Standard & Poor’s Raises Morocco's Rating Outlook From Negative to Stable

Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) has maintained Morocco's credit rating at the current level of BBB- / A-3, revising its outlook from negative to stable.

In its report, the rating agency projected Morocco's real GDP growth to be about 2.8 percent this year, constrained by the decline in external demand and agricultural output, rebounding to about four percent by 2021.

It said the country's budgetary position should gradually improve, supported by the government's comprehensive budgetary strategy and privatization proceeds over the forecast period, to reach three percent of GDP in 2022.

S&P’s also believed the precautionary and liquidity line approved by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December 2018 underpins Morocco's macro-financial stability and its economic and budgetary policy objectives.

As a result, it revised the outlook on the country to stable from negative and affirmed its 'BBB-/A-3' ratings on Morocco.

It pointed out that it could raise the rating if budgetary consolidation prospects materially improve or the ongoing transition toward a more flexible exchange rate that targets inflation significantly bolsters Morocco's external competitiveness and ability to withstand macroeconomic external shocks.

It could also raise the ratings if Morocco's ongoing economic diversification strategy results in less volatile and higher rates of economic growth.

Conversely, it noted in its report that it could lower the rating if the government deviates from its fiscal consolidation plan, resulting in substantially higher government debt compared with our forecast, real GDP growth rates significantly undershoot its expectations or external imbalances widen, resulting in a significant increase in the economy's gross financing needs.

It didn’t expect the public sector wage hike to affect its budgetary outcome, given that it had already been budgeted for, expecting additional savings from lower-than-budgeted government subsidies for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), due to the implementation of a hedging strategy.

Given the government's commitment to privatize some assets from 2019-2024, it expected the change in net general government debt--its preferred indicator of fiscal flows--to decline as of 2019.



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)
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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.