Morocco: Slow bureaucrats that harm investments and economy to be punished

Morocco said it will sanction government executives botching up investments in the country. Measures will be taken against any executive accountable for unjustified freeze of investment files in Morocco, prime minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi said in a circular to government members.

Long bureaucratic and administrative procedures have recurrently been mentioned as one of the major reasons behind the slowing down of foreign investments flow into Morocco.

Last year, Morocco attracted a record $ 1.2 billion in direct foreign investments, most of them from Saudi Arabia, France and Germany.

Official figures show that foreign private investments and loans to Morocco fell by about 56 percent during the first four months of 1998, dropping from 2.5 billion dirhams at the end of April 1997 to 1.10 billion at the end of April 1998.

Youssoufi, who did not disclose the nature of the sanctions, announced that an investment inter-ministerial commission will be set up to examine cases related to impediments to investments.

The commission will be chaired by the Prime Minister and will gather the ministers of the interior, of environment, urbanism and housing, of economy and finance, of industry, trade and investments, of tourism, of general affairs and of economic forecasts and planning.