The Moroccan Economic Center has earmarked the country’s tourism industry as the business sector with the most promising growth potential for the coming decade.
Tourism currently contributes about 7.8 percent of Morocco’s total GDP, which is estimated at $37 billion. Tourism contributes 15 percent of the country’s current account revenues and 12 percent of the payment account returns.
According to a report in the Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily, Morocco’s foreign trade balance decreased by $3.8 billion last year, because of rising imports and declining foreign currency inflow, resulting from difficulties in marketing locally produced goods in the European markets.
The Moroccan Bureau of Statistics reported that the GDP had grown by only 1.1 percent in the first quarter of 2000. This sluggish economic performance was largely related to the low productivity of the agricultural sector, which fell by 8.4 percent. – (Albawaba-MEBG)
