Moroccan enterprises say appropriation bill will not spur investments

Morocco's employers union (CGEM) said the 2003 appropriation bill will not spur investments as it is based on "previous orientations and choices that failed to create an environment conducive to economic and social development."

"Despite the authorities' will to produce an innovative bill geared to stimulate investments, as an employment-oriented instrument for development, the bill is still entangled in a classical framework," says CGEM in its weekly newsletter "CGEM INFOS."

While commending the "modernist" approach of the government's declaration made by the prime minister before the parliament prior to the bill adoption, the same source deems the appropriation bill's provisions as a hindrance to the declaration's implementation itself.

The editorial further stresses that the bill either does not take into consideration - or does in some measure -- the government's declaration, which it termed as "ambitious" and containing important measures able to upgrade the national economy, initiate a progressive modernization of the public sector and improve the administration performance.

CGEM recalled the propositions it put forward aiming mainly to improve the environment of enterprises operating in various sectors and to set up a fair taxation, as an incentive to economic and social growth.