By Adedapo Adesanya
Morocco has been ranked in fifth place on Business Insider’s list of the top best investment destinations in 2022.
According to the publication, the kingdom’s resilient economy and positive growth prospects all contribute to the country’s strong position as a regional investment hub.
It said Morocco’s placement on the list is a result of its liberal economy as well as significant growth prospects in 2022.
In the same context, Morocco has been Africa’s fifth-largest economy in the past year with a $124-billion gross domestic product (GDP) recorded in 2021.
With a projected GDP growth amounting to 3.2 per cent in 2022, post-COVID economic recovery is well on track for the North African Kingdom.
In recent months, Morocco has been garnering international attention as a promising frontier for investors looking to establish a strong foothold in Africa, while maintaining a presence in international markets.
Earlier this month, Morocco ranked 20th on a list of 50 promising emerging countries in terms of logistics infrastructure, according to Agility, a consulting firm, which fared countries even better in terms of a sub-index relating to the business climate. Morocco ranked ninth on the Agility list in terms of its open and robust business climate.
The country’s capital-intensive investment in mega infrastructure projects such as the Tangier Med and Dakhla’s flagship post further boosts its prospects as an investment and manufacturing hub.
Sound fiscal policies resulting in under 2 per cent inflation rates and low-interest rates benchmarked at 1.5 per cent all underpin Morocco’s attractiveness as an investment hub, according to converging reports from assessment agencies.
It is also important to note that in 2021, Morocco again featured as the second-best investment destination in Africa based on the assessment of South Africa-based Rand Merchant Bank (RMB).
The bank looked at a wide range of criteria, including political stability, technological growth, and economic resilience in the wake of the COVID-19 fallout.
Even at the height of the COVID-19 crisis in 2020, Morocco maintained the same ranking on the RMB list for African investment destinations.