Morocco’s economy seen slowing in 2020 due to drought & covid-19 fears

Morocco’s economic growth could sink to as low as 2% in 2020 from a previous estimate of 2020, Reuters and Bloomberg reported citing head of the high commission for planning Ahmed Lahlimi.

When Morocco put forward a growth estimate of 3.5%, the context was promising with first autumn rain and good prospects for tourism market but drought and the advent of coronavirus outbreak imposes a review of growth forecast.

Lahlimi said that tourism and remittances from the Moroccans living abroad are set to dwindle in view of the outbreak of coronavirus in the EU, Morocco’s main trading partner.

“The skies have not been very generous this year,” Lahlimi told Bloomberg.

Morocco’s agricultural sector represents 12% of GDP and employs 33% of the workforce.

So far, Morocco declared three covid-19 cases, one of them, a 89 year-old woman, died as the country reinforces precautionary measures including banning fans from football stadiums and cancelling cultural, sports and economic events.