Economic growth: IMF forecasts 2.4% growth for Morocco in 2023
The International Monetary Fund has just delivered in Marrakech a detailed analysis of the World Economy Outlook (WEO), and for Morocco in particular. The report was presented this week in the “Ochre City” by experts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the sidelines of the WB/IMF Group Annual Meetings, which are continuing their proceedings at Bab Ighli.
For Morocco, economic growth should rise from 1.3% in 2022 to 2.4% in 2023, before picking up to 3.6% in 2024, said IMF economists at a press conference dedicated to the presentation of the World Economic Outlook report. This performance of the national economy is driven by a “very strong” tourism sector and a “stable” agricultural sector despite the drought, said Daniel Leigh, head of the World Economic Studies division at the IMF’s Research Department. Leigh recalled that the Moroccan economy had recorded a good half-year before the earthquake. According to the IMF, the country’s inflation rate should fall from 6.6% in 2022 to 6.3% in 2023, then to 3.5% in 2024, while the unemployment rate should rise from 11.8% in 2022 to 12% in 2023, before declining to 11.7% in 2024. In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, growth should slow from 5.6% in 2022 to 2% in 2023, before rebounding to 3.4% in 2024, again according to the international financial institution. Overall, according to its latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) update (October), the IMF estimates that global growth will slow from 3.5% in 2022 to 3.0% in 2023 and 2.9% in 2024, well below the historical average (2000-19) of 3.8%. In the advanced countries, growth is expected to slow from 2.6% in 2022 to 1.5% in 2023 and 1.4% in 2024, as the effects of tighter monetary policy begin to be felt. Emerging and developing countries should see growth decline slightly, from 4.1% in 2022 to 4.0% in 2023 and 2024. «Economic activitý is still far from having returned to the trajectory it followed before the pandemic, particularly in emerging and developing countries, and disparities are widening between regions «, says Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, chief economist at the IMF.
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