Morocco's GDP to post 8.1 per cent growth in 2001, minister

Morocco's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is expected to grow by 8.1 per cent in 2001, Moroccan economy, finance, privatization and tourism minister, Fathallah Oualalou said on Monday.

The growth will be boosted by the internal demand, whose major component (household consumption) will increase by 8.9 per cent in 2001 against 4.3 per cent in 2000, Oualalou told a monthly meeting of the French trade and industry chamber in Morocco.

With an average harvest of 65 million quintals, the agriculture value added will rise by 43 per cent and the GDP growth rate (excluding agriculture) will go up from 3.5 per cent in 2000 to 4 per cent in 2001, the minister added.

National savings will also grow by 14 per cent in 2001, he said, adding that inflation rate will be maintained at approximately the same level as 2000, i.e. 2.5 per cent, if oil prices do not exceed $ 25 a barrel in 2001.