First Independent Mena Newspaper
Algeria has announced its plan to increase its car production capacity to 260,000 by 2018, a goal that remains hard to attain in light of the absence of a clear-cut strategy. The development of the car industry sector in Algeria was an attempt to reduce the country’s soaring import bill. Algeria imported 605,000 cars in […]
Spain remained Morocco’s top trading partner in 2016 with trade turnover totaling $10.6 billion up from $9.3 billion in 2015, Morocco’s foreign exchange regulatory authority, L’Office des Changes said. Between 2015 and 2016, Morocco’s imports from Spain rose from $4.4 billion to $6.2 billion, while its exports to the country jumped from $4.2 billion to […]
Remittances of Moroccans living abroad, one of the main source of foreign exchange reserves in Morocco, grew by 4% in the first eleven months of 2017 to stand at 60.2 billion dirhams ($6.5 bln), while FDI flow in the country grew by 13.2% to 21.8 billion dirhams over the same period compared to 19.3 billion […]
Bahrain’s Islamic Bank, Al Tamweel wa Inma (BTI) Bank, which opened lately its headquarters in Casablanca, looks forward to setting 37 branches by 2022 in various cities of Mo-rocco. The BTI Bank has been launched following the partnership sealed by Al Baraka Banking Group (ABG), the leading multi-national Islamic Banking Group, headquartered in Bahrain, and […]
Marrakech closed 2017 with a record number of 2 million tourists and 7 million nights. Figures released by the regional tourism center show that tourists visiting the Red city increased 20% in 2017 while registered nights grew 18% compared to last year. German tourists visiting Morocco’s first tourist hub rose by 56% followed by the […]
Local farmers in the Souss region are financially contributing to the building of the world’s biggest water desalination plant whose water will help irrigate the plains of Chtouka. The farmers are contributing €1000 (10,000 dh) per each hectare in an unprecedented success story of the public-private partnership in Morocco, local media reported. The contributions will […]
Abu Dhabi’s National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Morocco’s state-owned phosphates company (OCP) signed a sulphur supply agreement covering 25 years. Under the agreement, ADNOC will increase the volume of sulphur exports to the OCP up from 2 million tons in 2016. ADNOC, one of the world’s largest sulphur producers, sees promising prospects for raising sulphur […]
Aeronautics is a key component of Morocco’s Industrial Acceleration Plan. The sector aims to generate a turnover of 2.8 billion dollars and create 23,000 jobs by 2020. The figures were announced by Industry Minister Moulay Hafid El Alamy in a statement to local media saying that the goals set for the aeronautics sector include reaching […]
Morocco’s flag carrier, Royal Air Maroc (RAM), will add four Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners to its fleet for a total cost of $1.1 bln. RAM already operates five 787-8 Dreamliners. The new Boeing planes will help the airline expand in South America, North America, the Middle East and Europe. “Our vision is to be the leading […]
France granted a 128 million euro loan to fund the locomotives that Morocco’s national railway operator (ONCF) plans to purchase as part of its development program. The loan will boost the ONCF shift to electric railway in line with Morocco’s environmental commitment. ONCF posted a net profit of 223 million Dirhams in 2016, up 31% […]