Abdelaziz Talbi, the director of public enterprises at the privatization and finance ministry, announced in a press conference, held recently in Casablanca, that 66 Moroccan companies were fully or partly privatized between 1993 and 2005. Talbi explained that the move earned the Moroccan government with an overall sum of MAD75.5 Billions (about 7.55 billion euros) and helped attract direct foreign investments to Morocco. He also reported that these figures place Morocco in the first spot, in this respect, among Arab countries and in the third place among African states, based on 2004 terms.
Talbi added that these privatization transactions also positively affected the local financial market, allowing growth of capital at the Casablanca stock exchange, from MAD5 billion to MAD206 billion, between 1989 and 2004. Maghreb Arabe Presse reports that among the privatized companies, mentioned by Talbi, were Ittissalat Al Maghrib (Morocco Telecom) and Regie des Tabacs (The tobacco distribution company).
