FDIs 2024: Morocco lags behind African giants
Foreign direct investment (FDI) in Morocco rose sharply in 2024, reaching $1.64 billion compared with $1.05 billion a year earlier, according to the World Investment Report 2025 published by UNCTAD. This positive trend in terms of value places the Kingdom among the African countries that recorded a significant increase in FDI flows over the year. However, this improvement did not translate into a significant repositioning in the African or regional rankings, where several countries consolidated much higher volumes.
On the African continent as a whole, Morocco ranks 13th, far behind Egypt, which alone recorded $46.6 billion in inward FDIs. It is followed by Ethiopia with 3.98 billion, Côte d’Ivoire with 3.8 billion, Mozambique with 3.55 billion and Uganda with 3.3 billion. The Democratic Republic of Congo reached $3.1 billion, while South Africa received $2.46 billion. Namibia (2.06 billion), Senegal (2.01 billion), Ghana (1.92 billion) and Algeria (1.80 billion) also posted higher levels of FDIs than Morocco. Even smaller economies, such as Togo (1.85 billion) or Zambia (1.78 billion), show comparable results, underlining a redefinition of the continental investment landscape.
Low regional average
This snapshot shows that Morocco remains attractive in a competitive regional environment, but without any marked acceleration. Inflows received place the country in the lower regional average, without reaching the top investment circles of the MENA zone. The report does not provide precise sectoral details on the destination of these flows in Morocco, but clearly indicates the areas that have concentrated capital on a global scale: energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, digital infrastructure, and logistics are among the major areas attracting investment in 2024.
At the same time, greenfield investment projects – i.e. new business location projects – declined on a global scale. The number of announcements fell by 5%, while their cumulative value dropped by 37%. Morocco was not among the countries mentioned in the year’s most important greenfield projects, unlike some African countries that attracted large-scale industrial or logistics facilities.
The energy sector occupies an increasingly important place in global investment flows, with a growing share devoted to renewable energies, green hydrogen, storage systems and electricity interconnections. North Africa is mentioned in the report as a strategic zone in this field, particularly for hydrogen-related projects. Several transformative projects have been launched on the continent, notably in Egypt, South Africa and Namibia. Morocco is mentioned as a country that has been identified for future partnerships in green industries, although no quantified or individualized project is attributed to fiscal 2024.
Radia LAHLOU
