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Morocco
>> Regional Overview >>Morocco Overview Program Data Sheet
608-005
USAID MISSION: Morocco
PROGRAM TITLE: Increase Income Through Expanded Business Opportunities (Pillar: Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade)
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE NAME AND NUMBER: Increased Opportunities for Domestic and Foreign Investment, 608-005
STATUS: Continuing
PLANNED FY 2002 OBLIGATION AND FUNDING SOURCE: $1,985,000 DA
PROPOSED FY 2003 OBLIGATION AND FUNDINC SOURCE: $2,185,000 DA
INITIAL OBLIGATION: FY 1999 ESTIMATED COMPLETION DATE: FY 2005Summary: USAID's program to increase opportunities for investment in Morocco includes two components—
- improved policy, legal, and regulatory framework for private-sector expansion; and
- strengthened institutional capacity to foster private enterprise.
Inputs, Outputs, and Activities: FY 2002 Program: USAID will use the requested funds to provide technical assistance in judicial reform, investment promotion, and tourism development.
- Judicial Reform: Funds will be used to train judges and clerks assigned to the recently created commercial courts and the appellate courts to which they are attached, and to install improved management information systems, such as caseload management software. In addition, legal expertise will be made available to update commercial laws and regulations. Assistance will reduce court backlogs and improve the quality of court decisions.
- Investment Climate Reform: Funds will be made available for the expertise and systems needed to establish Regional Investment Centers (RICs) in collaboration with regional governors. The RICs will help to decentralize government decision-making related to investments; reduce the bureaucratic obstacles to business creation, start-up, and operation; develop public-private partnerships in areas like technology and human resource development; and create a more business-friendly environment in the 16 regions that make up Morocco.
- Tourism Development: Using technical expertise, training, and limited amounts of start-up capital for pilot projects, USAID will assist public and private actors in the tourism industry to improve the attractiveness of existing rural and/or ecology-tourism sites, link them with other major Moroccan tourist destinations like Fez, Marrakech, and Agadir, and market the sites to international customers. Expected impacts include a rise in the number of foreign visitors, and increased jobs and incomes, especially in rural areas.
Planned FY 2003 Program: The program will build on activities funded in FY 2002. The judicial reform program will update commercial laws and regulations and continue with the institutional strengthening of the regional commercial courts and related appellate courts. The investment climate reform program will include additional technical assistance, and training will be made available to the Regional Investment Centers. The program will also involve the expansion of pilot activities to other regions and support for public-private partnerships. Tourism development assistance will focus on continued upgrading of rural and ecological tourism sites, the development of improved marketing techniques, and improvements in operations through human-resource development.
Performance and Results: Since its inception in FY 1999, this program has made significant progress in instituting reforms in policies, laws, and regulations at the national level, as well as strengthening a variety of public and private institutions that support business development.
In the area of policy and legal reform, the program has completed an exhaustive analysis of the existing constraints to increased investment and business expansion, and obtained a consensus of business and government leaders on priority follow-up actions. It has initiated activities in two priority areas: land reform and business-registration simplification. In the area of land reform, the development of user guides, the installation of a modern Geographic Information System, and the devolution of authority to the regional level has made it easier for both foreign and local investors to purchase land by significantly increasing the transparency of the process and simplifying the business registration process.
In the area of institutional strengthening, the program has improved the capacity of the commercial court of Agadir, several business associations in the Agadir region, and two microcredit associations that serve the rural poor. Computerized management information systems have been installed at the commercial court and at two business associations, and personnel have been trained in their use. USAID also developed business strategies for the two associations, one of which represents the tourism industry and the other the agribusiness sector, to help the associations and their members to better compete in the international marketplace. The two microcredit associations have succeeded in expanding their operations outside of their traditional urban customer base to previously under-served rural areas. The program has contributed to the integrated development of dozens of villages, their civic and business associations, and decisions to keep girls in school, all of which will ultimately lead to improved economic opportunity.
Program objectives include the following: reductions in the time to do business with the government; time savings to litigants in commercial courts; enhanced revenues for business associations; an expansion of microcredits to rural enterprises; and commercial laws that reflect best international practice. Over the longer term the program should result in an increase in the ratio of investment to gross domestic product.
Principal Contractors, Grantees, or Agencies: Chemonics (prime contractor), The Services Group (subcontractor to PricewaterhouseCoopers), and two local nongovernmental organizations: Zakoura and INMAA (grantees).
US Financing in Thousands of Dollars
608-005 Increased Opportunities for Domestic and Foreign Investment DA Through September 30, 2000 Obligations 3,552 Expenditures 287 Unliquidated 3,265 Fiscal Year 2001 Obligations 3,304 Expenditures 2,058 Through September 30, 2001 Obligations 6,856 Expenditures 2,345 Unliquidated 4,511 Prior Year Unobligated Funds Obligations 0 Planned Fiscal Year 2002 NOA Obligations 1,985 Total Planned Fiscal Year 2002 Obligations 1,985 Proposed Fiscal Year 2003 NOA Obligations 2,185 Future Obligations 2,400 Est. Total Cost 13,426
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Last Updated on: May 29, 2002 |
