Business Climate: Morocco among top five best performing countries (EIU)

Morocco ranks among the top five countries that have most improved their business environment over the past two decades, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) index.

Between 2003 and 2023, Morocco ranked fourth out of 82 countries that managed to significantly improve their business climate, according to the ranking published by the EIU in a report.

Morocco ranks first in the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the British think tank.

Since the early 2000s, Morocco has been pursuing a program of economic restructuring aimed at improving living standards, reducing unemployment, and stimulating growth, notes the EIU.

Successive Moroccan governments have worked to attract foreign investment, notably by cutting red tape, modernizing the financial system, and privatizing certain sectors, including telecoms, according to the same source.

Over the next five years, most of the best-performing countries since 2003 will record the greatest improvements, joined by a few others such as India, Kenya, and Greece, the report states. The improvement in the EIU index “has always been an accurate indicator of stronger growth in real GDP per capita,” it says.

The index measures the attractiveness of the business environment in 82 countries, examining 91 indicators across 11 different categories.

These include: political environment, macroeconomic environment, market opportunities, free enterprise and competition policy, foreign investment policy, foreign trade and exchange controls, taxes, financing, labor market, infrastructure, and technological readiness.

Founded in 1946, the EIU has more than 75 years’ expertise in helping financial institutions, governments, and multinational companies deal with complex commercial issues.