Drought, Ukraine war threaten Morocco’s economic rebound

Drought, Ukraine war threaten Morocco’s economic rebound

RABAT: A withering drought and poor harvests plus price hikes fuelled by the war in Ukraine are threatening Morocco’s fragile economic recovery and exposing structural weaknesses, experts say. The North African kingdom had bounced back last year after a sharp recession in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the government of gas tycoon Aziz Akhannouch had forecast growth this year topping three percent. But since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine he has been forced to slash that figure to at most 1.7 percent, telling parliament that “sudden external events and climate change” were to blame.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast even lower growth of 1.1 percent. Morocco has pumped resources into diversifying its manufacturing sector, particularly by attracting auto giants such as Renault. But those efforts “have not changed the structure of the economy”.

That is the conclusion of a 2021 report by a commission on the “New Model of Development” (NMD), a strategy announced last year which sets out ambitious plans including slashing Morocco’s wealth gap and doubling per capita economic output by 2035. Morocco depends heavily on agriculture, a sector that accounts for 14 percent of gross domestic product and around a third of all jobs. But farmers are on the