- Morocco stays at the top of the regional list of countries attracting foreign investments. According to a report by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Moroccan kingdom in 2004 received more foreign investments than any other country in the regions of Africa and Middle East. The country also was the largest investment recipient of these regions in 2003.
According to a report by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Network of Euro-Mediterranean Investment Promotion Agencies (ANIMA), Morocco receives by far more foreign direct investments than other Muslim countries in the region. Morocco receives around the double of foreign investments as Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia, but also somewhat more than Turkey.
Further, the total amount of direct foreign investments in Africa had increased by US$ 15.0 billion during 2003. This represented a growth in investments of 28 percent from the year before, according to statistics published by the UN's trade and development agency UNCTAD.
Morocco for some years has been the largest recipient of direct foreign investments in Africa. Other African countries with "exceptionally good numbers" were said to be Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan, according to the UNCTAD report. All these countries, except Morocco, are registering large investments in their oil sector.
The Moroccan kingdom remains among the poorest countries in the North Africa and Middle East region. Nevertheless, direct foreign investments in Morocco are increasing faster than in most other Muslim countries. Foreign investments in Morocco increased from a modest US$ 500 million in 2002 to US$ 2,300 million in 2003, when Morocco took the lead on the list.
This growth, according to UNCTAD, was mostly due to Morocco's privatisation programmes. The Rabat government at the same time has strongly liberalised its trade policies and has now free trade agreements with the United States and the European Union (EU). Free market access to the EU and US and cheap labour has attracted many new foreign investments in 2004.
The gap down to the following countries was increased last year. Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Sudan nevertheless each received more than US$ 1 billion in direct foreign investments in 2003 and in 2004.
The other North African countries come further down on the list. Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia all received less than US$ 1 billion in direct foreign investments in 2003. Other Middle East countries, except Israel, received foreign investments around US$ 200 million each.
Libya received very limited foreign investments in 2003 and 2004, but is expected to head to the top end of the list during 2005 due to the opening of Libya's markets to foreign investors. In particular the Libyan oil industry, which has been closed for two decades, is now attracting large foreign investments.
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