LATEST ECONOMIC BRIEFINGS
EMIRATES: DUBAI | 30.07.2010
Dubai’s capital markets appear to be in for significant change with plans unveiled to establish a second-tier stock exchange coming hot on the heels of Dubai Financial Market (DFM) – the government-administered domestic bourse – and the DIFC-based NASDAQ Dubai’s move to formally link their trading platforms. All of this is happening as speculation of a merger between the bourses of Dubai and Abu Dhabi mounts.
ALGERIE | 30.07.2010
Les efforts importants déployés par l’Algérie pour augmenter la production céréalière commencent à porter leurs fruits, dans la mesure où les récoltes record de l’année dernière et les rendements importants de 2010 aideront à réduire les coûts d’importation et à créer des emplois sûrs dans les zones rurales. Cependant, l’objectif de l’autonomie alimentaire fixé par le pays reste encore bien éloigné.
SENEGAL | 30.07.2010
Le Sénégal est en train de devenir un leader en matière de développement de l’énergie solaire comme énergie de l’avenir, et ce, à la fois à l’échelle nationale et continentale. Pour y parvenir, le pays veut augmenter l’utilisation des énergies renouvelables afin de surmonter ses propres manques et promouvoir un grand programme international ayant pour but de mettre fin à la dépendance de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à l’égard des combustibles fossiles.
BULGARIA | 30.07.2010
Though Bulgaria’s economy is likely to remain in the slow lane for the rest of this year, the country’s banking sector continues to show resilience in the face of global economic contraction. There are concerns, however, that increasing levels of bad loans carried by some lenders could add to pressures on the sector.
OMAN | 28.07.2010
A raft of new agreements recently signed by the Ministry of Transport and Communications will see a significant round of investment in Oman’s transport infrastructure. The 15 agreements, signed earlier in July, cover projects in land, sea and air infrastructure and are worth a total of OR136.9m ($355.9m).
COUNTRY COVERAGE
Textiles and FTAs
Morocco, Volume 30
23.03.2004
23.03.2004
As far as the figures are concerned, March is proving a time of mixed results for Morocco. While the country was concluding a much-awaited free trade agreement with the US - much to the joy of its advocates - elsewhere, in the textiles sector, things were not looking quite so rosy.
First, though, came some statistics for industrial growth that showed third-quarter 2003 expansion of 2.7%. According to agency MAP, which released what it said was data from a government think-tank, the leading segment in this was agribusiness, which managed 5.6% growth, while metallurgy, electricity, electronics and mineral processing also ranked in the top areas for expansion.
With industry accounting for some 20% of Morocco's GDP, the sectors' performance is naturally keenly watched. However, analysts were divided over whether the result was a good one. After all, 4.6% growth in the sector is expected for the first quarter of 2004, with this a substantial distance above the third-quarter results.
Also causing some concern were the figures from the textile sector released by the think-tank on March 12. These showed that receipts from textiles and leather had fallen 2.2% during the third quarter of 2003.
The decline was put down largely to a decrease in local, household demand. The report remained confident though that exports were growing and that the overseas market might take up the slack in 2004, with hosiery, apparel and leather items expected to keep sales expanding during the first quarter of this year at the same rate as in preceding years.
While such optimism may find its critics, it is not altogether without some foundation. Certainly, there was also good news in the sector this month, with the announcement on March 15 that the Italian group Ledger is to set up a major new textile plant in the country.
The deal was given high profile by the government, with Prime Minister Driss Jettou attending the signing ceremony for the investment agreement in Rabat. Ledger is a leading manufacturer in the Italian textile market, particularly in the denim, fabric and velvet markets, owning five plants in Northern Italy and Sardinia, a joint-venture in Pakistan and having a workforce of some 1,900 people. The company's plan is to set up an integrated industrial compound of two plants for weaving and spinning at Skhirat, 20 km south of Rabat. These will have a productive capacity of 24m metres of fabric per year, as well as a spinning unit with the capacity to produce 9,000 tonnes of material per year.
The estimated cost of the project is Dh600m (around $66.5m) and will be carried out in partnership with the Moroccan Senoussi group. Some 800 jobs will also be created directly, with many more expected to benefit in spin offs.
At the ceremony, Jettou described textiles as an "extremely important" sector, and underlined the government's determination to help it with various incentives. These, the prime minister elaborated, include cutting costs, improving professional training and modernising labour legislation.
He also said that the sector would be one of the main benefactors from the recently concluded Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In this opinion, he was then joined by Edoardo Polli, Ledger's owner, who said his company had chosen Morocco not only because of its stability and proximity to Europe, but also because of its "openness to the USA" - in other words, the FTA.
Finally signed on March 2 after negotiations that stretched back seven rounds to a start date at the end of 2001, the FTA has been hailed by Moroccan and US officials in recent days as a monumental achievement. Speaking after the signing, the US National Free Trade Council (NFTC) chairman, Bill Reinsch, described it as an "historic accord", while Aziz Mekouar, Morocco's ambassador in Washington, added that as far as Morocco was concerned, the FTA gave "immediate access to the American market for 99% of [Morocco's] industrial products".
US leader George W. Bush emphasised the political dimensions too when he spoke after the signing of Morocco being one of the US' "strongest friends in the Middle East". As this is an era of US initiatives, Bush also claimed that the accord advances "my goal of a Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) within a decade".
Yet the jury remains out on whether the US FTA really will produce the results its advocates suggest. The doubts have been growing recently too as the kingdom draws closer to the European Union, with some fearing that free trade with both giant blocs may result in a dangerous squeeze on Morocco's own products. Another, wider concern is that signing up to both agreements may create a regulatory noodle soup, with conflicts emerging between the EU and US "operating systems".
Certainly though, if Ledger is anything to go by, European companies with plans to export to the US are already rolling up. How this will now play out remains the big question though, as Moroccans prepare for a major new challenge.
First, though, came some statistics for industrial growth that showed third-quarter 2003 expansion of 2.7%. According to agency MAP, which released what it said was data from a government think-tank, the leading segment in this was agribusiness, which managed 5.6% growth, while metallurgy, electricity, electronics and mineral processing also ranked in the top areas for expansion.
With industry accounting for some 20% of Morocco's GDP, the sectors' performance is naturally keenly watched. However, analysts were divided over whether the result was a good one. After all, 4.6% growth in the sector is expected for the first quarter of 2004, with this a substantial distance above the third-quarter results.
Also causing some concern were the figures from the textile sector released by the think-tank on March 12. These showed that receipts from textiles and leather had fallen 2.2% during the third quarter of 2003.
The decline was put down largely to a decrease in local, household demand. The report remained confident though that exports were growing and that the overseas market might take up the slack in 2004, with hosiery, apparel and leather items expected to keep sales expanding during the first quarter of this year at the same rate as in preceding years.
While such optimism may find its critics, it is not altogether without some foundation. Certainly, there was also good news in the sector this month, with the announcement on March 15 that the Italian group Ledger is to set up a major new textile plant in the country.
The deal was given high profile by the government, with Prime Minister Driss Jettou attending the signing ceremony for the investment agreement in Rabat. Ledger is a leading manufacturer in the Italian textile market, particularly in the denim, fabric and velvet markets, owning five plants in Northern Italy and Sardinia, a joint-venture in Pakistan and having a workforce of some 1,900 people. The company's plan is to set up an integrated industrial compound of two plants for weaving and spinning at Skhirat, 20 km south of Rabat. These will have a productive capacity of 24m metres of fabric per year, as well as a spinning unit with the capacity to produce 9,000 tonnes of material per year.
The estimated cost of the project is Dh600m (around $66.5m) and will be carried out in partnership with the Moroccan Senoussi group. Some 800 jobs will also be created directly, with many more expected to benefit in spin offs.
At the ceremony, Jettou described textiles as an "extremely important" sector, and underlined the government's determination to help it with various incentives. These, the prime minister elaborated, include cutting costs, improving professional training and modernising labour legislation.
He also said that the sector would be one of the main benefactors from the recently concluded Morocco-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA). In this opinion, he was then joined by Edoardo Polli, Ledger's owner, who said his company had chosen Morocco not only because of its stability and proximity to Europe, but also because of its "openness to the USA" - in other words, the FTA.
Finally signed on March 2 after negotiations that stretched back seven rounds to a start date at the end of 2001, the FTA has been hailed by Moroccan and US officials in recent days as a monumental achievement. Speaking after the signing, the US National Free Trade Council (NFTC) chairman, Bill Reinsch, described it as an "historic accord", while Aziz Mekouar, Morocco's ambassador in Washington, added that as far as Morocco was concerned, the FTA gave "immediate access to the American market for 99% of [Morocco's] industrial products".
US leader George W. Bush emphasised the political dimensions too when he spoke after the signing of Morocco being one of the US' "strongest friends in the Middle East". As this is an era of US initiatives, Bush also claimed that the accord advances "my goal of a Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) within a decade".
Yet the jury remains out on whether the US FTA really will produce the results its advocates suggest. The doubts have been growing recently too as the kingdom draws closer to the European Union, with some fearing that free trade with both giant blocs may result in a dangerous squeeze on Morocco's own products. Another, wider concern is that signing up to both agreements may create a regulatory noodle soup, with conflicts emerging between the EU and US "operating systems".
Certainly though, if Ledger is anything to go by, European companies with plans to export to the US are already rolling up. How this will now play out remains the big question though, as Moroccans prepare for a major new challenge.
