Report on Moroccan Migrants: Skills, Destination Countries, Motivations

A new report has been released by the European Training Foundation (ETF) that sheds some light on the lives of Moroccan migrants. Here is an article about the report from the ENPI Information and Communication Support Project.
 __________

Morocco: new report sheds light on link between skills and migration

26-02-2013

Forty-two per cent of Moroccans would like to emigrate, but only 9% have the proper information, documents and money to do so, according to the results of the largest study of migration in Morocco to date, released by the European Training Foundation (ETF) today.  Of those that did leave, 62% said they learnt a language or acquired other technical or professional skills while abroad, the survey found.

 

The study “Migration and skills” combined desk research with a survey of 2,600 potential emigrants and 1,400 labour migrants who returned to the country.

 

The purpose of the study is to contribute to the improvement of migration policies both in the EU and Morocco by providing high-quality data and analysis. The ETF has carried out similar studies in Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, Ukraine and Tajikistan (2006-08) and Armenia and Georgia (2011-12).

 

The report was released at a seminar in Rabat attended by key Moroccan institutions – Ministry of Employment and Vocational Training, Ministry in charge of the Moroccans Living Abroad - as well as the representatives of the EU and researchers.

 

Morocco has a long history of labour migration to Europe dating back several decades. Currently there are some 3 million Moroccans who have left their country and live abroad, of whom four out of ten are women. 

 

Key facts and figures from the study: 

• 42% Moroccans declare intention to emigrate; regions where highest number of people declares intent to migrate are Agadir (52%) and Marrakesh (49%)
• Only 9% of the potential migrants has proper information, documents and money to emigrate
• The main destinations are France (32% of returnees), Spain (21%), and Italy (15%)
• Moroccans prefer long-term emigration: 53% of returnees stayed abroad more than 7 years
• Economic situation is the main declared reason for migration, but the level of economic well-being doesn’t influence the propensity to migration
• Most migrants work in hotels and restaurants, in construction and agriculture
• 60% of returnees worked at the time of the survey, while only 46% of potential migrants had a job, which suggest migration’s positive impact on employability
• 31% of returnees, mainly those with higher education, benefited from training while abroad
• 62% of migrants said they learnt a language or acquired other technical or professional skills, but only one third of migrants had their Moroccan qualifications officially recognised
• Some 45% migrants worked without contract abroad, which limited their entitlement to welfare or pension
• Migration doesn’t improve the standard of living of the returnees: 74% of them were poor
• Returnees are more entrepreneurial: 26% of returnees have their own business (compared to 20% among the rest) and 20% employ workers (compared with 7% among the rest)
• There is little awareness of the government’s programmes for migrants
• Moroccans return to their country mainly for family reasons (26%); only 5% come back to invest

 FULL ARTICLE 

Moroccans Leave Spain (and its Economic Troubles) for Home

Here is an article from the Christian Science Monitor on the wave of Moroccans returning to their homeland due to the increasingly bleak economic situation in Spain. The first portion of the article is pasted below.
____________________

Spain loses title as Moroccans' land of opportunity 

Moroccans seeking economic opportunity used to flock to Spain, but with its economy tanking, Spain has less and less to offer them. 

By John Thorne, Correspondent / October 22, 2012

Tangier, Morocco

Anas Benhima spent over a decade building a new life in Spain: an education, friends, and a career. Then he left it all and returned home to Morocco

“I saw my friends losing their jobs,” he says. “And I knew that eventually the same thing could happen to me.”
Mr. Benhima, like an increasing number of Moroccan migrants, is giving up on his northern neighbor. For years Spain beckoned as a land of opportunity, but that image is now shattered by an economic crisis that has pushed unemployment there to nearly 25 percent.

For Morocco, Spain’s woes are part of larger troubles among European trading partners that have dented the Moroccan economy, too, as remittances and tourism revenue have sagged. For Spain, fading luster as a source of jobs underlines how deep its malaise has become.


Unemployment among Spain’s estimated 783,000 Moroccan workers is just over 50 percent – roughly twice the national rate, according to a report released in May on the effect of Spain’s crisis on Moroccan workers by Colectivo Ioé, a Spanish social affairs research institute. Data from Spain’s central bank indicates that remittances to Morocco fell by a third between 2007 and 2010.

Increasingly, Moroccans are giving Spain a pass. While illegal migration makes exact numbers murky, a net loss of Moroccan immigrants was registered in 2010. Last year that loss was nearly 22,000, according to Spain’s national statistics institute.

Coming full circle

Change is felt acutely in Moroccan cities like Tangier, where Spanish headlands are visible across the Strait of Gibraltar. For years Morocco’s north, a region formerly colonized by Spain, has relied on sending migrants there to help feed families at home.

Benhima grew up in Tetouan, once Spain’s colonial capital, where his father worked as a customs official. He went to Barcelona to study textile engineering in 1998, but financial concerns led him to dive into the job market instead.
“At first you work to pay for studies, but then you forget studies and just work,” he says.

He drove a golf cart by day and tossed pizzas at night, supporting himself while also helping cover medical bills for his father. He stayed in Spain for two uninterrupted years, until he got legal residency. Then, in 2000, he surprised his parents with a visit. His father died four days later.

Benhima’s mother and three siblings moved to Tangier, while he settled in Madrid. Using his ability to speak Spanish, French, English, and Arabic, he found work in 2001 handling overseas clients for an insurance company. The job put him in the top tier of Moroccans drawn by an economic boom in Spain. Moroccan arrivals peaked in 2005 at about 75,000, according to the Colectivo Ioé report.

Meanwhile in Tangier, Benhima’s mother, Badia Amrani, founded BAYSIM, a goods transit company, in 2006.

Read continuation of article here.

Morocco (Temporarily) Eliminates Import Tax on Wheat

This is important because in Morocco bread is water. Here is an article from Reuters on the temporary freeze of import taxes on soft wheat in order to stabilize supplies of wheat in the country.
___________________

 Morocco freezes import duty on soft wheat

Thu Sep 20, 2012 5:17pm EDT

By Souhail Karam

(Reuters) - Morocco will eliminate a 17-percent import duty on soft wheat from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, to ensure a regular supply of the commodity to the domestic market through imports expected to be the biggest in 30 years, according to state run radio.

Bad weather slashed Morocco's soft wheat harvest to 2.74 million tonnes. Based on demand of 7.1 million tonnes last year, Morocco will need to import in excess of 4.3 million tonnes of soft wheat to fill the shortfall this year, excluding stock variations.

Yet, the state grains agency ONICL has yet to make its first foreign purchase under the current import program that started in June.
Last month, two soft wheat tenders of 300,000 tonnes each, under preferential trade agreements with the European Union and the United States, received no bids.

Local importers said high international prices, coupled with the 17-percent import duty and other charges, left too thin a margin, while domestic supplies could still provide for immediate milling needs.

But domestic supplies, considering the 450,000 tonne monthly milling needs, will be disappearing fast, especially when a little over half the soft wheat harvest ends in the formal distribution chain.

The remainder, 46 percent last year, is either consumed by farmers or goes to unorganized traditional milling.
In August, the state extended by a month the payment to local farmers of 2,900 dirhams ($340) for a tonne of their milling soft wheat, in an apparent bid to lure more sales.

When the price of wheat costs more than the price the state pays for the domestic milling soft wheat, authorities compensate licensed importers.

Traders in Casablanca said ONICL may need to launch its first tenders during the first week of October.
"Stocks will fall sharply by end-September, to less than a million tonnes. It's an unbearable position for ONICL. They will need to replenish them through imports to keep the minimum three months of needs covered," a trader said.

Morocco's soft wheat stocks should have stood at 1.75 million tonnes by end-August from 2.35 million tonnes by end-July, according to agriculture ministry estimates published in August. ($1 = 8.5757 Moroccan dirhams) (Editing by Carol Bishopric)

Banning Alcohol and Alcohol Related Advertising in Morocco

Here is an article from BikyaMasr on the PJD's attempt to "preserve Moroccan identity and its religion" through the banning of alcohol related advertising.

_______________________

Morocco using religion to battle alcohol

Bikya Masr Staff | 7 June 2012 | 

CAIRO: The Moroccan government’s main party, the PJD, has announced a new draft law prohibiting all forms of advertising for alcohol-related beverages, using religion and culture as a means of garnering support in the North African country.

“In order to preserve Moroccan identity and its religion,” was the reason given by the PJD in introducing the new bill.
According to reports, the draft law calls for a ban on any form of “direct” or “indirect” advertising.
Ironically, PJD deputy Mohamed Zouiten admitted that this will create new forms of censorship in the country, which has already shown its willingness in recent years to crackdown on freedom of speech.

“At times we are seeing indirect advertising through, for example, televisions series which incite people to drink alcohol. In these cases it would be better to ensure checks to cut out these scenes. Both the television and the radio have a key role in raising awareness against alcohol consumption,” he was quoted as saying.

Les Soir Echos has reported that the PJD is also targetting exhibitions and fairs, as well as food and wine tasting events and promotional activities to curtail all forms of alcohol promotion.
“Our draft law cannot be called an attack on individual freedom or on press freedom. Our aim is only that of putting into practice the Constitution,” said Zouiten. “We have decided to submit this draft law with eight articles within it to accompany the application of the government and parliament programme as part of the mission to apply the fundamental constitutional principles,” he added.

If the draft law passes, the consequences – on a sector which has an annual turnover of 4.5 billion dirhams (over 400 million euros) – will be immediate.

“If the law is adopted and published in the official gazette, the suppression of the advertising will have to come into effect within the following 30 days. Should there be repeat offenders, the law calls for a sentence of between three months and 2 years in prison and a fine of between 10,000 and 25,000 dirhams,” said the deputy.

“The contracts signed by the company for this type of advertising will be rendered null and void as soon as the law comes into force.”
Courts will also be able to shut down the businesses which granted the space for the exhibition or the advertising for alcoholic beverages for between 20 days and 3 months.

The PJD, which says it is “moderate Islamic” party, argues that this first step will be followed by others, gradually banning anything which could be considered an attack on religion. Alcohol has long been targeted by the PJD. A general increase in the internal consumption tax (TIC) had previously been proposed from 800 to 900 dirhams (over 80 euros) per hectoliter of beer, from 10,500 to 15,000 dirhams (over 1,300 euros) for liquors and for 450 to 500 (about 45 euros) for wine.
BM

Changes in Morocco Leave the Large Gap between Rich and Poor Unaddressed

Kudos to NPR once again for giving voice (literally) to the concerns of the poor and unemployed in Morocco. Here is a new piece about the situation in a country that has the widest gap between the rich and the poor in the "Arab world." You can hear the radio story by clicking on the link or read the transcript below.
________________

In Morocco, The Arab Spring's Mixed Bounty

by Deborah Amos

February 7, 2012

If you're looking for the reasons for unrest in Morocco, you can find some answers while zipping along in a golf cart at a resort in the historic town of Marrakech.

The rentals at this exclusive enclave are all five-star: large villas with extra rooms for a full-time butler and a chauffeur. There's a lake, a spa and an 18-hole golf course for the clientele — who are, it goes without saying, very rich.

"In Morocco," says Mustapha, a resort employee, as he takes a prospective client on a tour, "you have the money, you live good."
A Moroccan mother and child beg for money in Rabat, Morocco, last year. About 15 percent of the population lives on $2 a day, and the literacy rate is little more than 50 percent.


This place is called the Secret Garden. But it's no secret that the gap between rich and poor in Morocco is one of the widest in the Arab world. About 15 percent of the population lives on $2 a day. The literacy rate is little more than 50 percent and, political analysts in Morocco say, there's a lack of opportunity and lack of hope among the young.

Just a short drive from the golf course is another Morocco, one with no electricity or running water.

This neighborhood sits in the middle of an olive grove. The roads are unpaved, and the houses are made of concrete block and mud. A woman uses a branch to sweep outside her home. This is the poor Morocco.

Poverty is one of many issues that ignited protests in the region — and in Morocco. On Feb. 20, 2011, Moroccans took to the streets to demonstrate in a country considered one of the most stable in the region. King Mohammed VI moved quickly to placate the protesters by offering constitutional reforms and calling early elections.

But progress toward democracy has also revealed the limits of civil disobedience.

Desire For A Different Kind Of Monarchy

The spark came when a group of young Moroccans called for demonstrations on Feb. 20 with a YouTube video that stated their demands for freedom and equality — their motives for calling for the street march. For the first time, demonstrators were directly challenging the absolute powers of the king, says businessman Karim Tazi, who joined the protest.



"In a lot of Arab countries, the goal was a simple one — get rid of the dictator," Tazi says. "In Morocco, the situation was more complicated than that. No one wanted to get rid of the king, but they want a different monarchy, they don't want an authoritarian one."

Economist Fouad Abdelmoumni says they want a symbolic monarchy more like Britain or Spain and a parliament with powers. They want a democracy, he says, not through revolution, as in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, but through reform.

"We have a whole generation that is emerging to politics, that is beginning to think of politics and beginning to have faith that they can lead their life and change their situation," Abdelmoumni says.

A year after the first demonstrations, reforms offered by the king are being tested. The head of the new government is an Islamist. His Justice and Development Party, or PJD, won the most votes in November elections, but the king and his advisers still retain substantial power, says Abdelmoumni, and can stall the proposals of the PJD.

"Will they be able to change the mindset where corruption and nepotism [are] the basic behavior of the state?" he asks.

That is the election promise, says Abdelmoumni, and party officials have already pledged to disclose the list of Moroccans who have benefited from a system known as grima, a French word that in Morocco means favors bestowed by the monarch.

"They will pay the price if they decide to go strongly against corruption, and they will pay the price if they don't go far enough, because the population is expecting a lot," Abdelmoumni says.


A Limit To The Changes

This population expects jobs. Unemployed college graduates protest every week in the capital. They shocked the country a few weeks ago when five set themselves on fire. Three were hospitalized and one died.

The new government's strategy is to seek economic growth and curb corruption, but Ahmed Benchemsi says that could lead to a collision with entrenched interests — the elites connected to the king.

Benchemsi, the former publisher of a popular news magazine, is now a visiting scholar at Stanford University's Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. In a visit home to Rabat recently, he explained that the monarch controls much of the Moroccan economy.

"[The king] is the No. 1 businessman in the country," Benchemsi said. "He's the No. 1 grocer, he's the No. 1 farmer, he's the No. 1 landowner, he's the No. 1 steel producer, sugar producer. ... He's a huge businessman."

And despite the new constitution, the king can still block any law he dislikes, Benchemsi says, adding that there are limits to the changes won by the protest movement a year ago.

It's a critique heard across the region from the young protesters who brought so many to the streets.

"They should have worked like a political movement," says Benchemsi. "But the thing is, the protest movement in Morocco is not a political movement. It is just a bunch of kids who dream of democracy — which is a beautiful thing, but it's not enough to shake a deeply rooted system like the Moroccan monarchy."

The demand in Morocco was to shake up the system, not destroy it. But if the government and the king fail to deliver soon, analysts say, the next confrontation could be tougher — against the monarchy itself.

In Morocco Being Unemployed is a Full Time Job

Here is a piece from NPR( National Public Radio) on the situation of the unemployed in Morocco.
Click on the link to listen to the radio piece that accompanies it if you like.
_______________________________

In Morocco, Unemployment Can Be A Full-Time Job

by Deborah Amos

January 27, 2012

It is rush hour in Rabat, the Moroccan capital, and time for the march of unemployed college graduates.

They are part of a movement that has become a rite of passage. It's a path to a government career for a lucky few, even though it can take years.

"I have a degree, a master's degree in English, and I'm here ... idle without a job, without dignity, without anything," protester Abdul Rahim Momneh says.

During the Arab uprisings over the past year, political grievances have received much of the attention. But youth unemployment is also a crisis for every Arab government. In Morocco, the jobless rate is more than 30 percent for young people.

Last week, five jobless college graduates set themselves on fire to protest unemployment. One has since been reported dead. Self-immolation has become something of a trend in the region ever since a young Tunisian street vendor set himself alight in December 2010, an event that sparked the uprising there and served as a catalyst for other revolts.

Government employment is hardly a solution for joblessness, say the movement's critics. Morocco's bureaucracy is already bloated and unproductive; the huge government payroll is a financial drain, they argue.

Yet, under pressure from these protests, officials often give in, adding a few more positions. Organizers hand the government a list of the most dedicated activists to choose from.


An Expanding Movement

Every year, even more graduates swell the movement, hoping for the lifetime security and perks that come with a government job.

They gather in a park, dumping their backpacks. Each group has a slogan displayed on colored vests they wear to every march.

Mokhliss Tsouli is with the yellow group. He moved to the capital after earning a master's degree to join the protest full time. He says he protests four or five times a week. He says his yellow vest translates to the word "spark."

This permanent protest movement has become part of the landscape of the capital. It's a movement with strict rules and rewards. Organizers keep a tally. There are points for attendance and extra points for scuffles with the police. The points determine who gets to the top of the list and gets a job, Tsouli says.

"Sometimes there are students who come once a week, and they are not really activists," he says. "So we are updating the list that we will give to the government, to the decision-makers."

The country's new government has vowed to tackle unemployment. It was elected after Morocco's Arab Spring moment last year, when widespread discontent brought tens of thousands to the streets. There was no revolution, but King Mohammed VI responded with a series of limited changes.


Jobs, Not A Revolution

But don't compare that political movement with the aims of these jobless college grads, says Nasreen el Hannch.

"Oh, it's not the same. We are totally different because we are just looking for jobs," she says. "They are looking [to] change Morocco; we are not looking for change, only to find a job. So, we hope."

There's no hope the job crisis will go away without substantial political and economic change. Until then, a little social blackmail means at least some of these students will get work.

The government has already pledged to hire 20,000 more workers, but there are many more protesters, and those left unemployed would have reason to keep up the pressure.

Morocco Needs a New Social Contract to Promote Stability

Here is an article from The Nation on the need for a social contract in Morocco that addresses problems in a way that can support sustainable social peace.
_________________

Morocco needs a new social contract to promote stability

Lahcen Achy
Nov 3, 2011

The social package implemented by the Moroccan government in the first few months of the year has cast a shadow over the preparation of next year's budget. The budget deficit is expected to be around 6 per cent of GDP by the end of the current fiscal year, a level unprecedented in the last decade.

The Moroccan government - in an attempt to preserve social peace and avoid any escalation in the protest movement sparked by the Arab Spring - increased civil servants' wages by about $70 (Dh260) a month, announced plans to hire more than 4,000 unemployed college graduates and doubled subsidies to preserve the price stability of fuel and basic consumer goods whose prices have risen considerably on the world market.

The worsening of the budget deficit in Morocco comes at a time of scarce liquidity in local banks and public dissatisfaction with the privatisation process, which has played a key role in the country's economy over the last few years by allowing the sale of public assets to keep pace with high public spending. The high interest rates on loans in international financial markets, due to the sovereign debt crisis and the repercussions of the Arab Spring, have seriously reduced the government's margin for manoeuvre.

The postponement of the budget law's approval ahead of critical legislative elections scheduled for the end of November reveals Morocco's vulnerability to structural imbalances. The country needs frank and transparent dialogue among the various stakeholders to come up with a social contract that ensures stability and balances current social demands and future economic growth goals. This requires an ambitious, yet realistic development strategy whose implementation may take years.

Policymakers need to focus on three structural distortions. First, Morocco suffers from a large trade deficit: it imports almost twice as much as it exports. This situation reflects the inability of Moroccan producers to compete globally and the inefficiency of economic policies that have failed to develop the local industrial sector and bolster its potential to compete in foreign markets. Morocco has grown accustomed to covering its increasing trade deficit with income from the tourism industry and remittances from emigrants, but these will both pose a challenge for the Moroccan economy over the coming years.

Despite their high resilience during the past decade, the long-term sustainability of remittances should not be taken for granted. New waves of emigrants are critical to support the continued growth of remittances. But policy barriers to Moroccans' traditional destinations have been increasing. The inability, so far, of the European Union's member states to develop a common migration policy has seriously impeded legal migration flows to Europe.

The ageing of former emigrants and the migration of entire families tend to cause a decline in remittances. New generations, born abroad, continue to remit, but less so than their parents' generation. Most of them have acquired the citizenship of their host countries and have different consumption and remitting habits.

More educated emigrants also tend to remit less and instead use their savings to invest in real estate in their country of residence.

And in the current climate, Europe's slow economic growth, high unemployment and austerity measures to reduce public deficits are likely to affect remittances negatively.

Morocco faces a second structural distortion because it will not be able to build a strong and competitive economy without a skilled and well-trained labour force. The government needs to allocate more human and financial resources to its adult literacy strategy to increase its efficiency and extend its coverage. Policymakers need to remove barriers to participation in literacy programmes and adapt their content and time schedules to fit the needs and desires of recipients.

The third structural weakness is that despite Morocco's efforts over the past decade, poverty rates have remained persistently high, particularly in rural zones, and inequality has been on an upwards trend. The poorest 10 per cent of the population accounts for 2.7 per cent of total consumption. At the other extreme, the richest 10 per cent makes up one-third of total consumption.

Consumption and income inequality are only part of the story, as inequality of ownership is even worse. Data on the distribution of agricultural land indicate that 5 per cent of farmers own one-third of all land.

Policymakers need to reinforce public redistribution policies to reduce inequality among individuals and territories. They should fight tax evasion, implement a more progressive taxation system and increase taxes on property and wealth. They also need to cancel full tax exemptions that benefit the entire agricultural sector, regardless of the size of a particular business and the income it generates. This exemption, which has been in force since the mid-1980s, is socially unfair and economically inefficient.

The next government, which will enjoy greater powers under the new constitution, should establish its priorities to ensure a balance between immediate popular demands and the requirements for economic growth based on human capital and the stimulation of investment, and to establish an equitable tax system to ensure a sustainable social peace.



Lahcen Achy is a senior associate at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut

"Arab Spring" Disrupts Moroccan Tourism

Here is an article about the affect of the "Arab Spring" on the tourism industry in Morocco.
It seems that turmoil in one "Arab" country causes Western tourists to hesitate to visit them all. There is a benefit however in learning to become less dependent on tourist dollars and all of the strings attached to those dollars.
________________________________________________________
'Arab Spring' hits Moroccan tourism

2011-09-30

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 30/09/11

It has been a tough year for tourism in Morocco. The Arab Spring, the Marrakech bombing, the economic slowdown and the fact that Ramadan coincided with August all took a heavy toll on the sector, Tourism Minister Yasser Znagui said last week.

The sector growth dropped by 6% in the first half of the year compared with the same period last year. Znagui admitted that the growth was weak but added that it was higher than the global average of 4.5%.

Despite a downward trend, Morocco fared better this year than other North African countries. Tunisia witnessed a decrease in tourist arrivals by more than a third, and Egyptian tourism fell by 60%.

"Morocco is the only tourist destination in the region that came away with its head held high in 2011 despite a difficult situation marked in particular by the Arab revolutions," the tourism minister said on September 21st at Top Resa, France's biggest tourism fair.

Sociologist Amine Mrabti echoed the sentiment. The Arab world is perceived as a uniform whole by Westerners, he said, and events in one country affect the others on all levels.

Many industry insiders were disappointed with the figures. Ramadan, the beginning of the school year and regional turmoil have impacted tourism, said travel agent Mohamed Charrati.

"A lot of people opted to postpone their travels," he said. "We've coped so far, but we fear the worst. Officials must come up with effective and fast solutions to support us and turn things around."

Domestic tourism should be encouraged by means of attractive offers, said economist Moha Zaki, and Morocco's strategy on advertising in foreign countries should be reconsidered.

The tourism ministry vowed to ramp up its advertising campaign. The focal point will be the country's diversity, with various aspects to be promoted to potential visitors: the seaside, rural Morocco, ecotourism, mountains, the desert and so on. The campaign will target the traditional markets of Western Europe.

Morocco Struggles with Surge in Street Vendors

Here is an article from Magharebia.com on the apparent problem of informal street vendors threatening small shop owners in Moroccan cities.
__________________________
Morocco struggles with surge in street vendors

After reviewing an alarming new government report, Moroccan officials are working to integrate cart operators into the formal sector.

By Hassan Benmehdi and Siham Ali for Magharebia in Casablanca - 08/07/11

A street vendor may have launched the Arab Spring, but the proliferation of roadside carts in Morocco is straining residents' nerves.

After unemployed Tunisian graduate turned vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself afire, igniting a democratic revolution that spread from Sidi Bouzid to Tahrir Square and beyond, Maghreb police became wary of cracking down on illegal carts.

Law-enforcement officers once confiscated street vendors' wares and forbade them from occupying public spaces. With the threat of arrest and loss of goods now gone, however, merchants have pushed their barrows into the busiest spots.

In Morocco, the situation is becoming critical.

"These traders have installed themselves along the alleyway beside the mosque, preventing motorists and pedestrians from passing," says Moussa, who lives in Casablanca's Oum Rabia I.

"After the vegetable sellers with their carts, the kitchen utensil sellers appeared on the square, and they were followed by the live chicken sellers, who even dare to slit their throats and pluck them on the spot, causing inconvenience for the neighbourhood," he tells Magharebia.

The informal traders are also having an impact on local businesses. Si Arroube, a public-sector worker, says that ever since street vendors in Casablanca's Belvedere and Roches Noires districts began offering items at rock-bottom prices, some small shops have been forced to close.

"These mobile traders don't pay rent or municipal tax," he explains. "The small retailers can't survive the competition."

Ahmed Ktiri, an economist, agrees that the phenomenon of street vending is having negative repercussions on the formal sector, due to illegal competitive practices.

"The youngest people should be offered training, and at the same time, jobs offering acceptable and viable conditions should be found for them," he suggests.

It is more than just price wars. Hassan, who lives in the city centre of Casablanca, says that the streets are no longer as clean as they used to be. "The goods are inexpensive, but these carts are a nuisance," he tells Magharebia.

For unemployed young Moroccans, however, they provide an income.

Informal trading is becoming a way of life for many young Moroccans.

"I have a family to take care of and if I don't sell anything, I risk ending up on the streets with my children and wife," says Aziz, a young street vendor of fish.

The government recognises the urgent need for a solution. "We must accept that we now need a new approach to integrate these people better into the formal sector," Trade Minister Ahmed Reda Chami told legislators in May.

"We need to create and set up new markets and spaces, but we also need to involve other departments, such as the interior ministry, and local authorities," Chami said.

Economic Affairs Minister Nizar Baraka said that the Moroccan government is paying particular attention to the issue and that help is on the horizon: "The main thing is to bring about a transition from the informal to the formal sector, that's what needs to happen."

A recent study commissioned by the Ministry of Trade revealed that Morocco now has 238,000 street vendors, 90% of whom are men. And since some 70% of them never went beyond the primary level in school, their employment options are limited.

The government report's recommendations will be implemented soon, Trade Minister Chami said in June. The aim, he said, is to integrate street vendors into the formal sector in order to improve their standard of living.

Absorption and integration of the informal sector would reduce poverty and exclusion, agrees Abdeljalil Cherkaoui, the president of REMESS (the Moroccan Network for Solidarity and Social Economy).

The informal traders, meanwhile, are in desperate straits.

Charaf Hamdani is a 35-year-old father of three who holds the baccalaureate. For the last five years, he has worked as a street vendor selling fruit. His decision to take up this vocation came after several years of unemployment, during which his wife supported the family. He hopes to have his own shop one day.

"I've suffered a lot," he tells Magharebia. "You can't afford to be sick. No one protects us. On the contrary, our activity is regarded as unofficial. I'd really like to switch, but I don't have the money for that."

His average monthly wage is between 2,000 and 2,500 dirhams.

Mhamed Daouli, who is 47, has been a street vendor for more than 15 years. He has sold fish, clothes, furniture and vegetables. At the moment, he is selling underwear. He does not believe the government's promises and feels that officials are merely trying to get rid of street vendors by sending some of them to markets far away from town centres.

"They need to find solutions within cities," he says.

Moroccan Families Taking Loans for Summer Vacations

Here is a piece from Al-Bawaba about Moroccans borrowing money for summer vacations in order to prop up their social status.
___________________________________________________________
Moroccan families taking loans for summer vacations
Published July 4th, 2011 - 09:18 GMT

Moroccan took out loans totaling 83.3 billion dollars by the end of 2010, an increase of 7.1% from 2009

This summer, thousands of Moroccan families are visiting loan companies and specialized financing institutions to take loans for travel and vacations. Private loan companies use tempting publicity and advertising to attract millions of people in Morocco who want to spend their holidays in or outside the country, luring them with specials and requirements that seem easy but lead many families into an endless spiral of loans.

The phenomenon of travel loans has spread to many Moroccan families due to the steady rise of prices. Thousands of families in Morocco go to specialized institutions and companies who offer consumer loans, including entertainment and travel offers for the summer holidays, targeting those with limited or medium salaries who cannot afford to save a portion of their salary throughout the year for a comfortable holiday.

Summer holiday loans increase during the hot months. According to new statistics issued by the Professional Association for Financial Institutions in Morocco, people took out loans totaling 83.3 billion dollars by the end of 2010, an increase of 7.1% from last year.

Researcher in social economic science, Abdul Razak Blumblah, believes that Moroccan families aren’t embarrassed anymore to take loans to travel to distant cities within the country, or even to touristic countries such as Turkey for a few days. According to Plumblah, this rush of Moroccan families to take summer loans is due to many factors, such as globalization and the desire to be distinguished while socially similar to others.

As such, families take out loans which lead to a falling spiral of loans from summer to summer, because once families pay the bills on the original debt, summer has arrived again, and thus those who have limited salaries find themselves in a vicious circle which they cannot get rid of it easily.

He confirmed that this loan spiral creates a permanent worry to the debt seekers, impacting their social and moral relationships negatively, leaving them always thinking about solutions of their financial problems, and unable to give any productive and useful solutions to develop their private and general life.

Moroccans Protest King's 2 Billion Dollar Investment Fund

Here is an article from Bloomberg Businessweek about King M6's 2 Billion Dollar Investment Fund and his controlling shares in Moroccan markets. Such dominating economic power could be seen as a conflict of interests for the ruler of a country.
___________________________________

Moroccans Protest Monarch’s $2 Billion Fund as Democracy Barrier
March 24, 2011, 12:44 AM EDT

By Gregory Viscusi and Aida Alami

March 24 (Bloomberg) -- When tens of thousands of Moroccans took to the streets nationwide on March 20, their chanted demands echoed those of citizens across the Arab world: freer elections, greater civil liberties and less corruption.

Except they were also protesting an investment fund.

SNI, with assets worth at least $2 billion, is controlled by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and managed by Mohamed Mounir Al Majidi, the king’s private secretary, who has business interests of his own. The 47-year-old monarch holds stakes in banking, insurance, dairy, sugar and cooking-oil companies; his advisers are involved in ventures from consulting to advertising.

For protesters, SNI’s web of interests highlights the flaw in the king’s March 9 promise pledge to put Morocco on the path to becoming the Arab world’s first constitutional monarchy. Unless the influence wielded by Mohammed VI and his advisers is weakened, his promises will ring hollow, they say.

“You can’t have fair competition when the people with power descend into the souk,” said Abdelilah Benkirane, leader of the Justice and Development Party, an Islamist party modeled on Turkey’s AKP. “That has to end.”

“SNI Out” and “Majidi Go Away,” read banners held by demonstrators in many of the 53 cities that saw protests.

The popular movements that ousted Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have spread to Morocco, though with a difference. The crowds have been smaller and peaceful. Police have kept their distance. Moroccan protesters are demanding greater democracy and an end to corruption, not a change in regime.

Moroccan Difference

The best way to reduce the king’s hold over the economy is to pressure him to go through with the constitutional changes he’s promised, Benkirane said. The ruling family has reigned since the 17th century, and Mohammed VI’s grandfather led the liberation struggle that ended the French protectorate in 1956.

“A political person can’t also be an economic actor,” said Chakir Aboubakir, a 28-year-old freelance salesman and business student involved with February 20, a Facebook-based movement that organized protests on that day and again on March 20. “He has to choose.”

Mohammed VI has already loosened freedom of speech since becoming king in 1999, even setting up an Equity and Reconciliation Commission in 2004. It investigated thousands of victims of disappearances and arbitrary detentions under Mohammed VI’s father, King Hassan II.

The constitutional changes, to be drawn by a commission by June, will be put to a referendum in this country of 32 million.

Strikes, Demands

During three days last week, unemployed university graduates gathered outside the parliament in Rabat to demand jobs, teachers camped outside the Education Ministry protesting low wages, retired bus drivers in Casablanca demanded back pension payments outside the city courthouse and members of February 20 met at the headquarters of an opposition party to debate strategy. Police were barely in sight.

Among the 17 Arab countries, only Kuwait and Lebanon were freer than Morocco, according to last year’s annual rankings by Washington-based Freedom House.

“The monarchy is not contested,” said Omar Radi, a 25- year old economist and also a member of the February 20 group. “Other countries haven’t had the opening we’ve had since 2000. He’s let some pressure off.”

Share Buyback

SNI, which has no website and operates from an unmarked Casablanca office building, was listed on the Casablanca stock market until August 2010, when it merged with its subsidiary Omnium Nord Africain and bought back its outstanding shares in a $3.9-billion offer.

In 2009, its last full year as a quoted company, SNI reported revenue of 3.4 billion dirhams ($430 million) and stock market holdings valued at 17.4 billion. ONA and SNI accounted for 11.7 percent of the Casablanca market’s 509 billion dirham market capitalization at end of 2009, according to figures in the bourse’s annual report.

According to the website of Bourse de Casablanca, the country’s main stock market, SNI combined owns 48.3 percent of Attijariwafa Bank, the country’s largest publicly traded bank; 79 percent of Wafa Assurance, the largest traded insurer; 63.4 percent of Centrale Laitiere, its largest dairy; 75.8 percent of Lesieur Cristal, its largest maker of cooking oils; and 63.5 percent of Cosumar, the largest sugar refiner.

Steel and Sugar

It controls 65 percent of steelmaker Sonasid through a joint venture with ArcelorMittal set up in 2006. Lafarge Maroc, the country’s largest producer of building materials, is in a 50-50 venture with Paris-based Lafarge SA.

At the time of the merger, SNI said it would sell its stakes in Cosumar, Lesieur Cristal and Centrale Laitiere, which is has yet to do. Shares of Cosumar and Centrale Laitier are both up 10 percent since the beginning of the year, making them the ninth- and 10th-best performers on Casablanca’s benchmark Madex index.

The index is unchanged since the start of the year, while the Dow Jones Arabia Titans 50 Index is down 9 percent. Its 10th-best performer: Attijariwafa Bank, up 0.4 percent.

SNI didn’t respond to phone and e-mail requests for comment. A receptionist at the unmarked SNI office space in an Attijariwafa office building in Casablanca’s business district said no documentation was available. Communications Minister Khalid Naciri didn’t return phone and e-mail messages.

‘Beneficial Rights’

“Institutions such as the royal family’s holding company, Omnium Nord Africaine (ONA), which now clears most large (property) development projects, regularly coerce developers into granting beneficial rights to ONA,” said a U.S. diplomatic cable written in December 2009 by Casablanca consul general Elisabeth Millard and released by Wikileaks.

The king’s advisers are involved in the economy as well. Fouad El Himma, the former deputy minister of interior who now heads the Party of Authenticity and Modernity, owns Cabinet Mena Media Consulting, said Rachid Filali Meknassi, secretary-general of Transparency Maroc, a Rabat-based organization linked to Transparency International. Majidi, the private secretary, owns FC Communication, the country’s largest outdoor advertising company, Filali said.

“Once there is a real parliament and government in place, then the real battle against the Makhzen can begin,” said Azzedine Layachi, a political science professor at St. John’s University in New York. He was using a Moroccan term that means the “warehouse” and refers to the royal advisers, business leaders and top bureaucrats who hold power behind the scenes.

Prime Minister

In his 11-minute speech on March 9, seated between his seven-year old son and his 40-year old brother, the king said he would strengthen the powers of the prime minister, who will come from an elected political party, and promote free and fair elections. Regional councils also are to be elected.

The king didn’t mention abolishing the constitution’s Article 19, which has been interpreted to give him full powers, and he’ll choose the members of the commission himself -- ignoring two demands of the February 20 movement.

Karim Tazi, the former head of the Moroccan Textile Industry Federation, the country’s largest industrial employer, said the state-run media’s derision of the February 20 movement and the king’s power over the economy are worrying signs.

“There’s clearly pride on the side of the king, that he wants to do it at his own rhythm and not be rushed by the street,” Tazi said. “The risk is that by not listening, the palace will radicalize the movement.”

--Editors: Anne Swardson, John Fraher

Economics Change the Dynamics of Moroccan Marriage

Continuing on the topic of marriage in Morocco, here is another piece on the subject. This time from Public Radio International. If you click on the link you can listen to the radio story.
____________________________

Tough economy changes marriage in Morocco
From PRI's The World 08 September, 2010 04:07:00

Marriage is expensive in the Arab world, and a tough economy is changing relationships in Morocco.

Marriages in Arab countries like Morocco can cost between four and ten times the per capita income. "Everything is getting really expensive," Morroco resident Mohammed Mahoufi, who recently married off his eighth child, told PRI's The World. He explains:

Now the people are really demanding. The people will not accept just anything or to live just anywhere. They ask for very nice furniture and marriage has just become really, really hard for someone who has a limited salary.

Since young men are expected to have a good job and an apartment before they pop the question, Moroccan men have begun to marry later and later. A generation ago, the average age of a Moroccan man on his wedding day was 24. Today, it's 32.

Those changes are having profound effects on Moroccan culture. Some men have been looking to women to help them out with finances, a situation that would have been unthinkable in the past.

"Before the husband must pay anything, but now, about the situation, the world has changed," Jawad, an unmarried fish salesman in Casablanca told The Word. "So, she must help her husband a little bit."

The delayed marriages may also be fueling "a sexual explosion in Morocco," according to sociologist Abdel-Samad Aldealmi. He says the changing norms have led to "a lot of premarital sex, non-marital sex, emergence and visibility of homosexuality and lesbianism. A lot of emergence of prostitution also."

The tough economy can also make it very difficult for people who can't afford to get married. "My father is always telling me, all the time: Without wife you are always weak in my eyes," Jawad told The World.

Housing prices continue to rise faster than wages, and Jawad estimates it will cost about $40,000 to buy and furnish an apartment and pay for the wedding. In the meantime, his sweetheart's family is encouraging her to find someone with a better job and more money.

"Here in our community, in our society, if you are married, you are an important person," he says. "And if you are like hanging out in the streets and with your friends, you mean nothing in your society."

Moroccan Bachelors Seek Wives who Work

This piece from Magharebia about the status of marriage and mate selection in Morocco now speaks for itself.
__________________
Moroccan bachelors seek wives who work

2010-08-09

The process of courtship and marriage is changing for many Moroccans, with financial questions looming larger than ever.

By Siham Ali for Magharebia in Rabat – 09/08/10


The classic Moroccan ideal of marriage is giving way to modern necessities. Men's pursuit of a soul mate is changing, as are the days of parents choosing the right bride for their sons.

These days, many men begin by looking at the financial situation of their future spouse. Although not long ago men used to seek women who had no job aspirations, so they would be free to take care of the housework, things are different now. The high cost of living is spurring them to seek brides who are working and can help them make ends meet.

"Young men are not greedy, but they are trying to adapt to the times," said sociologist Hamid Soundoussi.

Marriage represents one more institution undergoing change in Morocco due to eroding purchasing power, he continued. "Once upon a time, a primary school teacher could easily support his family single-handedly, but that has become very difficult now. The marriage age has risen in Morocco due to the increase in the cost of living. The concept of mutual financial help between spouses is a fairly recent one, especially in urban areas."

For 33-year-old Farid Laafraoui, the search for a wife has lasted three years. He set a number of criteria that his future spouse must meet, including the need for her to have a job. He told Magharebia that the time when love came before marriage has passed.

"Love is essential, but it is built following marriage on the basis of mutual respect," he said. "If a couple's financial situation is stable, they will have fewer problems. My monthly wage is just 5,000 dirhams. A second income will be necessary to run the household and pay for the children to go to school."

Farid is one of many people who are attributing their focus on women's financial circumstances to the new demands of daily life. Women are also aware of the change and are placing higher demands on men in return.

Narjiss Bahaoui, a 28-year-old bank clerk, said that several men close to her family and at her workplace had made overtures towards her, but that she preferred someone "ready" to tie the knot.

"Since feelings are not a major criterion for marriage, I have the right to marry a husband who already has a flat and a nice car," she said. "But despite everything, I'm willing to abandon these preconditions for someone who would love me for myself and not my monthly income. I'm both romantic and realistic at the same time."

Some women are now so sceptical of the greed of suitors that they become hardened singletons and end up regretting it.

One such woman, 44-year-old Houda T., is a manager with a large company in Casablanca. She turned down several offers of marriage over the years because she always had doubts about the men's real intentions.

"I learned rather late that I shouldn't be so mistrustful," she said. "I should have gone for it with one of them and settled down. My success in my career has not lessened my desire to have a home and children, like my sisters and friends, especially since society takes a dim view of unmarried women, and this causes me a lot of stress."

Some young women say one should be realistic and objective, and not take a prejudiced view of men. The sexual equality they strive for presupposes the same rights and responsibilities for both parties in a marriage.

"Since women have always demanded a husband who has a job, men also have the right to marry a woman who is working in this society of ours, which is becoming more modern," said 22-year-old law student Souad Chatibi. "This doesn't mean that a home can't be built on the foundations of love and respect."

Paying for the Eid Sheep in Morocco

Mabrook al `Awashir! It only seems right to post a story about the Eid. Eid Al-Kbir in Morocco sure beats anything I've ever seen in the US. Here is an article about Moroccans buying sheep for the Eid even if it is beyond their means.
___________________________

Moroccans ignore high costs to honour Eid al-Adha rites

2009-11-27

Saturday marks the start of Eid al-Adha in Morocco, a religious and cultural occasion that preserves long-cherished rituals and Prophetic tradition.

By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca – 27/11/09


Despite tough financial times, many Moroccan families will still adhere to an ancient ritual when Eid begins on Saturday (November 28th). The Adha feast calls for the sacrifice of a sheep, but honouring the custom can prove costly.

Like many Moroccans, Ibrahim, aged 54, has been setting aside hundreds of dirhams from recent paychecks to be able to afford a sheep. He is determined to participate in the sacrificial rite to please his wife, three children and mother. There is no possibility of forsaking the practice because of the cost.

At the sheep market in Casablanca, Malika evaluates her choices. She will not leave until she gets the ram that her family deserves, regardless of how much it costs: a healthy and horned ram, as dictated by the Sharia. Her husband has to pay for just the right animal, so she will not feel embarrassed by an inferior selection.

"People do nothing these days except watch the sheep that are brought into the neighbourhood," Malika tells Magharebia. "They weigh them just by looking at them from their windows and can price them even better than the vendors."

Malika is determined to buy a ram that will dignify her among her neighbours.

Some Moroccans let their relatives do the slaughter and the cooking. Each year for Eid al-Adha, Samira heads to Mohammedia to celebrate with her husband's parents.

"We spend three days there and it is an event for a family reunion, as many family members, whether single or married, come home," Samira noted. After the celebration, she and her husband return with bags of left-over meat.

But whether one stays at home or lets relatives perform the ritual slaughter, housewife So'ad says, prices are higher this year – well above the budgets of most families. Some sheep cost as much as a small calf.

So'ad blames "greedy" livestock breeders for the annual price spike. Brokers, or shanaka, contribute to the exorbitant cost, she argues. These wily operators intercept sheep farmers on their way to the market, buy their livestock and then raise the price to make a re-sale profit.

"People shouldn't complain," secretary Hoda countered. "Peasants need the extra cash in return for their efforts in raising their livestock." Besides, she added, "the event calls for some sacrifice".


Earlier this month, the Moroccan government tried to reassure the public by explaining that prices for sheep may vary depending on the quality and the age of the animal, the vendor's location and how close to Eid the animal is purchased.

The official explanation did little to persuade Nabil Mohamady. The Casablanca resident tells Magharebia that prices make little sense, especially when last season's heavy rains led to fertile pastures, an abundant harvest and good-quality livestock.

With the price of a sheep at least 3,000 dirhams, loans are becoming a common practice. Banks offer tempting packages to lure in the biggest number of clients.

Mostapha applied for a bank loan, as he does every year. His company lends him the money to buy the sacrificial sheep and allows him to repay the funds in ten monthly instalments. Such financing options allow even those with limited incomes to enjoy holiday traditions.

Even with changing social conditions, some Eid customs remain unshakable, such as the tradition of setting up neighbourhood communal fires, where young men cook the heads for a small fee.

Some households insist on handling the slaughtering themselves, a skill mastered after years of practice. Most people, however, choose to seek the help of ritual butchers, who roam districts in search of clients. They are often accompanied by young helpers eager to make extra money by assisting in the skinning process.

"Slaughtering fees are constantly on the rise," Ibrahim complains. "It climbed from 50 dirhams per sheep to 150 within a span of 3 years. That is quite overpriced. Slaughterers take advantage of the fact that people have no choice but to purchase their services at whatever price they name."

Rachid does not care much for the feast preparations. Like many of his friends and their wives, Rachid decided to leave on a vacation to enjoy the holidays in Marrakech or Agadir, where rated hotels offer competitive packages for the holiday.

Rachid's avoidance of the tradition typifies a new trend. Indeed, Eid al-Adha is already starting to lose its social and religious value, with the wealthy seeking to dodge it, while the poor striving hard to be able to afford the sacrifice, sociology professor Ali Fdaili argues.

"Things should be the other way round; the affluent should be buying the sacrifice to give away to the poor," he tells Magharebia.

Economic conditions play a role in changing behaviour patterns, no matter how deeply-entrenched they may be, confirmed social analyst Mostapha Rajeh. Compassion for the needy, which constitutes the basis of the customs and traditions of the feast, has become threatened.

Still, there are those who adhere to the meaning of the feast. Sa'id, who lives alone in Casablanca, has a good job which enables him to afford a sacrifice. He prefers, however, to offer the money to a needy family living in an older district of the city. The day of the feast, he fixes a small meal and shares it with a few friends.

"It's a laudable Prophetic tradition that drives us to think about people who might not have had a morsel of meat throughout the year and are eagerly awaiting the occasion. I feel such a relief when I help some poor family buy a sacrifice because I know that is going to make everyone in the family happy," Sa'id says.

"This is the true spirit of solidarity that Islam urges."

Chinese Imports hurt Moroccan Shoe Repair shops

This article from Middle East Online is not about Ramadan, but about the fledgling shoe repair business in Morocco due to competition from Chinese imports.
______________________________________________

‘Made in China’ sinks Morocco shoe repair shops


Shoe repair shops are struggling to survive increasing tide of cheap shoes made in China.


By Saad Guerraoui – CASABLANCA

Abdel Salam Jawhari, a 73-year-old owner of a shoe repair shop in Casablanca’s upmarket Hassan I Avenue, has just turned down a posh female customer despite going through difficult times because of her sarcasm.

He insists the future is bleak for this profession which he has been practising for 62 years, blaming it on Chinese products flooding the domestic shoe market.

The flood of Chinese products has increased since China's entry into the World Trade Organization in late 2001, a development which has had a negative outcome on Morocco’s textile and manufacturing industries.

Jawhari said clients run away when they “are told the price of repairing their shoes” that can go up to 80 Moroccan dirhams (10 US dollars).

“Why would you bother yourself repairing your shoes whereas you can buy brand new ones for less that their repair cost?” Asked Jawhari.

Jawhari stressed that raw materials and machinery “are all imported from Europe, particularly Germany for their good quality, which reflect the repair costs.”

Many shops across Morocco’s industrial capital sell beautifully-designed shoes for as little as Dh70 (7 US dollars), but the quality is quite poor.

Jawhari recalls this profession was dominated by foreigners and Jews until the 1960s when Moroccans started to take over.

He highlights the golden years when he used to make between Dh900 a day and employ 3 to 4 people. Today, he hardly makes Dh150 a day, which is barley enough to cover the shop’s increasing expenses and bills.

“Today, we repaired only three shoes and there are other days where it goes dead,” he sighed

He thanks God his married son, the only employee left in the shop, lives with him. Otherwise, he would have closed a long time ago like many other shoe repair shops which could not withstand the Chinese tide.

Jawhari proudly shows his scars from accidents, which did not stop him from carrying on his job despite not being covered by the social security.

“Only old customers keep coming in. The new generation is fussy and thinks I have got Moses baton to repair the unrepairable,” he said with laughter.

Dr. Saad Guerraoui , Senior Editor

Report from Moroccan Royal Think Tank

Here is a commentary that was posted on the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace's website in response to a report by the Moroccan Royal Think Tank. Its refreshing to think that there is such a thing as a Royal Think Tank. But as the commentator points out, they stop short of pointing at the elephant in the room.
_________________________________________________


Morocco’s Royal Think Tank Issues Report on Economic Crisis: Diagnosis Right, Therapy Wrong!

Lahcen Achy Web Commentary, August 7, 2009

Morocco has so far managed to limit the impact of the international financial crisis on its economy. Real challenges facing the country existed long before the crisis, however, and are likely to persist beyond recovery. A report recently published by the royal think tank, the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES), has identified three key findings. According to IRES, the challenges facing Morocco emanate primarily from a lack of leadership at the decision-making level, inconsistent economic policies, and the absence of effective governmental communication. Though the diagnosis is accurate, the proposed recommendations fail to address the real roots of the problem.

For the first time, the Royal Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES) took a decisive stance regarding the challenges facing the Kingdom by publishing this first report assessing the impact of the international financial and economic crisis on Morocco and future public policy challenges. The public has long been awaiting such a step as IRES had been criticized in the press for its resounding silence on the issue up till now.

The royal think tank has identified the key issues that impede policy making in Morocco, and revealed the risks and critical socio-economic challenges that must be addressed.

The report identifies the channels through which the international crisis has impacted the Moroccan economy—trade, tourism, remittances, and foreign direct investment—and underlines five potential risks that Morocco might face in the case of prolonged global recession. Those risks include the exhaustion of foreign exchange reserves; decline in budgetary room to finance government programs; a slowdown in domestic demand; and increased unemployment and poverty. These changes in turn would impact social stability and expose the financial sector to the adverse effects of default by insolvent households and firms.

The report suggests a four-part road map for Morocco’s future policies. The first part recommends strengthening social cohesion through democracy, good governance, and the reinforcement of social safety by more efficient and effective social policies. The second part―improving governance by rationalizing and effectively implementing economic and social policy―requires leadership and the development of an effective communication strategy that allows the people to understand both the gains and the sacrifices involved.

The third part recommends strengthening Morocco’s competitiveness by modernizing its productive sectors and improving product diversification and technology. Finally, the fourth part focuses on regional integration—with Europe as the priority, along with the reinforcement of economic links with sub-Saharan Africa, and a conditional and selective orientation toward the Maghreb.

Although the report’s analysis is not particularly new, it endorses many of the findings of academics, journalists, and international organizations on both the conduct and the performance of public policy in Morocco. The World Bank’s 2007 Investment Climate Assessment, for example, identified the lack of leadership and institutional organization as key deficits, concluding that the real problem in Morocco is not so much about what to do but about how to do it.

The establishment of a new parallel structure would not answer the urgent need for empowering the executive and legislative institutions that are already in place, but lack the power to effectively fulfill their functions.

The IRES report suggests creating a “coordination entity” tasked with ensuring coherence and consistency among government bodies and programs. However, there is a risk that such an entity would only add to an already complex bureaucracy. Ensuring coherence and providing leadership is a key task of any prime minister, while monitoring and assessing government programs and their implementation falls under the purview of parliament. An ad hoc coordination office would only interfere with the role of existing institutions, creating an extra layer in a complicated and dysfunctional landscape.

The real challenge in Morocco is not to create a new ad hoc institution but to provide sufficient authority to the prime minister and parliament so they can discharge their existing responsibilities effectively. The prime minister cannot explain the tradeoffs implied in policy decisions to the public if he is not empowered to make those decisions. And parliament cannot play its monitoring role if the prime minister, the person accountable for decisions, is not actually the decision maker. The problems revealed by the report are caused by an excessive concentration of power, the lack of democratic governance, and ineffective political participation. There is, therefore, no real need for new institutions, but existing institutions must become more effective. This is particularly essential at a time of rising economic and social challenges.

In short, the royal think tank has identified the key issues that impede policy making in Morocco, and revealed the risks and critical socio-economic challenges that must be addressed. It has also gone one step further, by acknowledging the need for more democracy, transparent intergovernmental communication, and better control of economic policies. However, it fails to follow to its logical conclusion―the need for more democracy, and effective and accountable institutions. The establishment of a new parallel structure would not answer the urgent need for empowering the executive and legislative institutions that are already in place, but lack the power to effectively fulfill their functions.

Working Hard for the Dirham - Average Moroccan Monthly Salary

Here is an article from MENA FN.com (Middle East North Africa Financial Network) on the average monthly income for a Moroccan family.
They are saying that it is 5,300 DH (Dirhams) which comes to about $658.12 USD . Well that should humble us spoiled Americans a bit.

_______________________________________________________________

Morocco- Households' average monthly income at MAD5,300
Morocco Business News - 02/07/2009

(MENAFN - Morocco Business News) The average monthly income of Moroccan households stands at about MAD 5,300, a figure that hides flagrant discrepancies between the city and the countryside, MAD 6,100 and MAD 3,900 respectively, and between social classes themselves.

According to a survey conduced by the High Commission for Planning (HCP), about 20% of households have a monthly income of less than MAD 1,930, 40% less than MAD 2,892, 60% less than MAD 4,227 and 80% less than MAD 6,650.

The study, which was presented on Tuesday, found that the average monthly income varies according to the educational level, age, sex and the socio-professional category of the head of the family.

This income mainly comes from paid work and private non-agricultural activities (about 63%), mainly in urban areas, while agricultural activities are the main source of income in the rural ones (41%).

The survey, involving a diversified sample of 7,200 households, also revealed that 20% the households that have the highest salaries monopolise 52.6% of the overall wage bill, while 20% of households with the lowest salaries share only 5.4% of this wage bill.

"The results of this survey have allowed for a better understanding of the poverty dynamics, through three macroeconomic approaches making possible to define the factors that induced the changes noticed between 1985 and 2007, underlined Ahmed Lahlimi, the head of the HCP.

This has shown that the sustainable reduction of poverty requires maintaining the growth rate and reinforcing social equality mechanisms mainly through educing disparities in terms of income, added Lahlimi.

An earlier survey on the Moroccan middle class, which was presented in May, had found that this social class represents 53% of the Moroccan population.

The study showed that while 48% of the people belonging to the class are active, 8.2% of them are unemployed and 43.7% inactive, 26% of them housewives.

The study also revealed that the Moroccan middle class has a number of social concerns including high living costs, drought, school drop-out, unemployment, diseases, and security.

Affordable Housing in Morocco

Here is an article from the UAE based paper, The National about looking at Moroccan affordable housing programs as a model for what could be done in that Gulf country.
________________________________

Morocco affordable housing a guide for the UAE

* Last Updated: June 01. 2009 5:16PM UAE / June 1. 2009 1:16PM GMT

Rochdi Ben Driss Zouichi for The National

All property players in the country agree on one thing: there is a need for more affordable housing. In Abu Dhabi in particular, the issue has been neglected until recently, with most of the 140,000 residential units scheduled for delivery by 2013 being high-end accommodation, according to Colliers International.

But following the slowdown in the property market, developers, including Al Qudra, Aldar and Sorouh, have announced strategy changes to address the needs of the low-priced segment, too.

Other markets in the Middle East have managed to turn the housing needs of low and middle-income earners into a lucrative niche. And Abu Dhabi could do worse than to look at Morocco, where developers who focus on affordable housing still make good money and their order books are full, in spite of the global crisis.

Anas Sefrioui, the chairman and founder of Addoha, Morocco’s largest developer, is confident.
His company, the first to be listed on the Casablanca stock exchange since 2006, is now on the top of the list. Around 77 per cent of its activity is based on low and mid-income housing. And yet, Addoha’s revenue last year increased 57 per cent to 4.7 billion Moroccan dirhams (Dh2.16bn), compared with 3bn dirhams in 2007.
The results for the first half of this year are expected to double compared with the same period last year. Mr Sefrioui says other developers are experiencing the same buoyancy.

“There is a specific Moroccan context,” he says. “People want to buy their own house. Renting is not part of the culture. When somebody is renting people generally think this is related to some sort of a problem. Buyers are mainly end-users.”

According to the Moroccan ministry of housing and urban planning, the undersupply of homes exceeds one million and each year 123,000 new families enter the market. Around 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 30.
Five years ago, the government launched a programme aimed at reducing the number of shanty towns and sub-standard dwellings and to ease the housing shortage by 25 per cent in 2012.

Access to land is a major catalyst. Last January, developers willing to build affordable housing were offered a total of 3,853 hectares of land at a reduced price to build 200,000 units.

The conditions: they have to sell the flats for only 140,000 Moroccan dirhams on one third of the allocated land and for 200,000 dirhams on another third.
On the last third of the land, developers are allowed to build other types of properties and make margins. But the key factor that boosted the market is an enticing financial policy that involves all industry players.

“Banks today not only continue lending to people with no regular incomes but they do so at a reasonable rate – 5.5 per cent fixed rates for up to 25 years,” says Hassan Ben Bachir, the adviser to Mr Sefrioui at Addoha.

The secret is a system of guaranteed funds established by the government four years ago, backed mainly by taxes on cement companies.
Fogarim, a security fund, enabled more than 48,000 families with low and irregular incomes to take out low-interest loans and buy homes.

The amount of guaranteed mortgages so far is 7bn dirhams.
According to figures from the ministry of housing, Fogarim’s main beneficiaries are traders (41 per cent), followed by street vendors (23 per cent), craft workers (16), taxi drivers (4.2), maids (3.7) and labourers (3.3). The scheme was soon followed by other funds linked to specific professions.

To qualify for the Fogarim programme and tax breaks, developers have to build at least 2,500 affordable housing units over five years, which are sold at less than 200,000 dirhams.

“In the beginning, cement companies were complaining because they had to pay 100 dirhams tax per tonne – which brings around Dh2bn a year into the fund,” says Mr Ben Bachir. “But now everybody is happy. Banks are lending because of the lower risk. People are buying because they get the finance, developers are building more affordable housing because of the advantages they get and the demand, and cement companies sell much higher volumes. The system does not even cost the government a lot of money.”

According to the housing ministry, up to 29 per cent of banks’ total loans go to the property industry.
The banks are bullish. The default rate is very low, according to the mortgage department of BMCE bank. “And the low-income segment is also the main part of our clients. We cover the total value of a property that costs up to 800,000 dirhams, as this is guaranteed by the fund.”

The low level of integration in the global financial system is another factor. “We have not developed many sophisticated products like securitisation, which caused the bankruptcy of some banks. We don’t have that much of a virtual economy,” says Nour Eddine Charkani, the director of Wafa Immobilier, the property loans section of Attijariwafa Bank.

“In Morocco, banks are not allowed to lend in excess of 50 per cent of a family or an individual’s revenue. The credit risk rate is less than 1 per cent and Moroccan banks have increased their total income by nearly 5 per cent during the first four months compared with the same period last year.”

According to Youssef Ibn Mansour, the chairman of the National Federation of Property Developers in Morocco, the market boomed because of low-income housing. “Until the mid-nineties, only the government was taking care of it. But when private companies were invited to enter the market this created a dynamic that attracted huge capital. We went from 30,000 to 40,000 units built a year to 125,000 units last year. Of this, 25,000 units are built for mid-incomes. The high-end segment only represent 5 per cent to 6 per cent of what is being built in Morocco.”

Addoha, along with the state company Al Omrane, makes up about 40 per cent of the low-income market, according to Mr Ibn Mansour, followed by a dozen smaller groups including Chaâbi and Jet Sakane.

Two UAE property companies also got involved. Al Qudra, which recently announced its focus on affordable housing in Al Ain, joined Addoha to build 359 villas in Tamesna, a town in Morocco, half of which should be delivered this year and the rest next year.
With the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, Addoha last month launched a project to construct 17,000 units in the Moroccan town of Kenitra, including low and mid-income flats, along with villas and a golf course.

“Most Emirati developers are focused on tourism or high-end residential developments though,” says Mr Ibn Mansour.
The question of profitability of affordable housing is regularly raised, especially with the recent 140,000-dirham units programme.

“It is profitable if you have good volumes,” says Mr Sefrioui. “Addoha builds 22,000 units every year, of which 2,000 only are high-end projects.”
Mr Ibn Mansour recognises that the 140,000-dirham units are products with no margin. “Developers in that case are allowed to build expensive units on one third of their granted land but most of them today go for the 300,000-dirham units and accept paying additional taxes.”

The other question is the quality of the housing. “These are mainly blocks of flats worse than Paris outskirts. It can look really depressing,” says William Simoncelli, the director of Agence immobilière Carre Immobilier Maroc, a brokerage company based in Casablanca.

The programme though has been extended to other income segments. After years of focusing on housing for Morocco’s low-income population, the government is faced with a new problem: home ownership is out of reach for much of the middle class.
Land prices have skyrocketed and driven many middle-income families to buy social housing.

“There are not many areas where you can put your money,” says Mr Simoncelli. “The stock exchange is not that attractive. So Moroccans love to invest in property. They don’t really have much choice.”

According to Mr Ibn Mansour, prices in high-end units are €1,500 (Dh7,796) per square metre, mid-range is €800 to €1,000, while low-income residences cost €500 to €600. The most expensive areas are in Casablanca, the economic capital, reaching up to €3,200 per sq metre.

However, prices have begun to come down because of the global economic crisis. Tangier has been the most affected, says Mr Simoncelli. “A year ago we were talking about €2,200 to €2,300 per square metre. Now it is rather close to €1,600.”
Marrakech was also very much affected because of the high number of projects for this medium-sized city. Many large creek projects with villas have been launched within a 4km to 15km range from the centre. The high prices fell down like a soufflé, he says.

Having proved successful, Fogarim has been expanded to include private-sector workers with regular salaries. Existing funds were merged in April to form Damane Assakane, which guarantees mortgages up to 800,000 dirhams.