Actors of the economic dynamism of the kingdom, Moroccan bosses are finding marked optimism for the national economy, hoping to benefit from it, even if the challenges remain significant in a mixed global context, according to the latest PwC study.
90% of managers are confident about Moroccan economic growth in 2024 and think that their companies will benefit from it, according to the latest CEO Survey Morocco from PricewarterhouseCoopers (PwC) presented in Casablanca this March 19. This is a significant boost in bosses’ confidence in the country’s economic situation after a year in 2023 when only 29% of business leaders expected interesting growth. This year, growth forecasts are quite diverse. If the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecast GDP growth of 3.5%, compared to 2.8% in 2023, before jumping above 4% in 2025. Bank Al Maghrib, on the other hand, expects 2.1%. The reason, among other things, is the negative impact of unfavorable weather conditions on the start of the agricultural season. The authors of the survey attribute the current optimism of the bosses « to the major projects that the country is carrying out in the short term, in particular in the context of the organization of the 2030 football World Cup », which, let us remember, is generating national and international enthusiasm around Morocco in terms of investments.
For more than five years, Morocco has been experiencing a drought, due in particular to climate change. And this reality, the effects of which are being felt in certain sectors of the economy, no longer leaves businesses indifferent, regardless of their sector of activity. To deal with water stress and rationalize water consumption, for example, companies operating in car washing and hammams (these traditional baths which support many families) can only operate four times a week. According to the PwC survey, 56% of Moroccan bosses today consider climate change as “a high risk factor” for business. As a result, more and more of them are considering their transformation to face the multiple constraints of recent years, to which climate-related disruptions are acutely added. Moreover, the proportion of managers who expect their company to disappear within ten years without an operational and strategic transformation is still just as high at 46%. For them, technology remains key. “We are firmly convinced that Moroccan leaders seem to be embarking on this path of continuous and sustainable transformation, by focusing on a pragmatic approach placing people at the heart and technology at their service,” explains Reda Loumany, Managing Territory Partner of PwC in Morocco. “The attitude adopted by Moroccan leaders towards artificial intelligence and climate change perfectly illustrates this pragmatism,” he adds. Despite the general optimism displayed, one of the factors that worries business leaders is inflation. Even if on a national and international scale, this is expected to decline, the context of uncertainties which reigns on a global scale does not necessarily reassure.
