The Investment Commission, meeting on Wednesday 10 January 2018 in Rabat under the presidency of the Head of Government, approved 48 projects of investment agreements and amendments to investment agreements with a total value of 32.32 billion dirhams, which will allow the creation of 6,190 direct jobs and 13,952 indirect jobs.

Predominance of the industrial sector

The distribution of investment by sector clearly demonstrates the predominance of the industrial sector with 59% of projected investment, representing 18.97 billion dirhams.

The seawater desalination sector came second with 3.46 billion dirhams, representing 11% of projected investment, followed by the transport and transport infrastructure sector with 10% of projected investment.

Industrial sector: prime provider of employment

As far as distribution by creation of jobs is concerned, it is worth noting the large impact of the industrial sector in providing employment. The projects in this sector foresee the creation of 2,650 direct jobs, which represents 42.81% of the total of such jobs created.

The fisheries and agro-food sector occupy second place with 1,535 jobs created representing 24.80% of those forecast, followed by the tourism and leisure sector with 20.18% of projected growth, or 1,249 direct jobs.

Very strong presence of domestic investment

With 27.53 billion dirhams, domestic investment represents a major part of all projected investment, i.e. 85% of total investments. This result is due to the large projects in the industrial, commercial and transport and infrastructure sectors.

Joint ventures occupy second place with 12% of the total amount. These are mainly part of the implementation of large projects in the sectors of seawater desalination and renewable energy.

Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra: leading region in both size of investment and creation of employment

The breakdown of projects according by location shows the region of Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra coming top both in terms of the amount of investment (17.18 billion dirhams, or more than half the total investment) and in terms of job creation (46% of direct employment, or 2,815 jobs).

The region of Casablanca-Settat is in second place with 16% of the total investment submitted to the commission (5.14 billion dirhams) and 29% of the total jobs created (1,822 direct jobs).

The region of Rabat-Salé-Kenitra holds the third place with an investment of 4.69 billion dirhams and 591 jobs created representing 10% of the total jobs created.