Industrial exports from Souss-Massa, which reach 4.7 billion dirhams, represent barely 1.3% of industrial exports at the national level. According to the data listed for the year 2022, the region is ranked 8th nationally for industrial exports, which demonstrates that the challenge of industrialization has not yet been achieved despite the efforts made over the last six years. .
The State Secretariat for Foreign Trade is preparing to launch its new roadmap for 2024-2025. A new roadmap to boost the exportable offer which is at the heart of a tour of the twelve regions of the Kingdom, for consultations with local authorities.
During this roadshow, the inaugural stage of which was held in Agadir, Omar Hjira, Secretary of State for Foreign Trade, and stakeholders in the region discussed the prospects for development of the industrial sector in Souss- Massa. It is also an opportunity to collect proposals and grievances from operators.
8th in class
However, according to the figures presented, the region’s industrial exports, which amount to 4.7 billion dirhams, represent barely 1.3% of the national volume. In detail, these exports are dominated by the agri-food industries.
This sector is the only one to have been able to unleash its potential within the framework of the regional version of the Industrial Acceleration Plan (PAI).
According to the data listed for the year 2022, the Souss-Massa region is ranked 8th nationally for industrial exports, which demonstrates that the challenge of industrialization has not yet been won, despite the efforts made during over the last six years.
Occupying a median and constant position as the 6th wealth-creating region at the national level, the region contributes 6.6% to the national GDP, according to the 2022 national accounts of the HCP.
The regional economic machine is still faced with a double challenge of agility and above all of transformation of its current economic model, in order to gain places in the ranking of the main contributors to national wealth.
Unexploited opportunities
It is, in these conditions, crucial to strengthen the industrial sector, in particular through the consolidation of the region’s share of industrial added value and industrial exports. This increase will allow the region to improve above all the added value of its GDP, but also to maintain a regular growth rate.
The other major challenge at the very heart of this challenge for the future is positioning on the sub-Saharan market where unexploited opportunities in terms of exports are around 12 billion dirhams out of a total of 120 billion dirhams for the other identified markets. by the new foreign trade roadmap.
Resorption welcome between 2022 and 2023
The trade deficit stood at MAD 285.5 billion in 2023, compared to MAD 308.8 billion in 2022 according to the annual report of the Foreign Exchange Office on Morocco’s foreign trade. The share of this deficit in GDP fell from 23.2% in 2022 to 19.5% in 2023, down 3.7 points. In 2023, imports amounted to MAD 715.8 billion compared to MAD 737.4 billion a year previously, a decrease of 2.9%.
On the other hand, exports, for their part, increased by 0.4%, reaching 430.2 billion dirhams against 428.6 billion dirhams in 2022. By country, the trade balance remains in deficit vis-à-vis the Spain, Morocco’s first trading partner. However, this trade deficit decreased by 4.6 billion dirhams (-23.1%), going from 19.9 billion dirhams in 2022 to 15.2 billion dirhams in 2023.
Yassine Saber / ECO Inspirations
