The Central Bank of Morocco [Bank Al-Maghrib] (BAM) estimates the country’s growth will reach 5.3% this year and 3.3% in 2022. The rise of the economy in 2021 is expected to be driven by the improvement in non-agricultural activities and mainly by the recovery of the agricultural sector, according to news from the Maghreb Arab Press (MAP). Pictured above, a citizen with a street child in Rabat, the capital city of Morocco.
Weather conditions are favoring the current harvest in the North African Arab country. For the next year, the BAM forecasts the Arab country’s economic growth will come from the non-agricultural sector, and agricultural activities will decline due to a possible downturn in the harvest.
Inflation in Morocco has accelerated recently, though it is staying at a moderate level. The Central Bank estimates it will be 1% in 2021 and 1.2% in 2022. Last year, inflation was 0.7%. In the first quarter of this year, it was 0.1%, but in the following two months, April, and May, it accelerated to 1.7%. The stride was due to the rise in international oil and food prices and the upturn in domestic demand.
According to information from the Ministry of Economy, Finance, and Administrative Reform published by MAP, Morocco’s tourism revenue plunged to MAD 12.3 billion (about USD 1.3 billion at the current rate) in the first four months of this year. Tourism is an essential source of income for Morocco. The value means a 65.7% decline in segment revenues over the previous year, after falling 18.2% in 2020.
Tourist arrivals in the country fell by 81.5% in the first two months of this year compared to the same period last year. Worldwide, tourism was heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Morocco, however, is gradually reopening its air borders and expects a favorable summer for tourism. Morocco is in the Northern Hemisphere, where summer takes place from June to September.
Translated by Elúsio Brasileiro
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