The Minister Delegate in charge of Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies, Mohcine Jazouli, made a point of giving more details on the framework law forming an investment charter adopted on Monday by the Councillors.
For a good implementation of the framework law forming the Investment Charter adopted Tuesday by the advisers, the ministry in charge of Investment, convergence and evaluation of public policies is working on a multi-annual roadmap. Objective: improving the business climate. And to think outside the box, Mohcine Jazouli announces that the actions will be done at the level of the province and not only of the regions. Another novelty, a National Investment Commission will take over from the current Investment Commission with additional prerogatives.
Almost 27 years old, the investment charter in Morocco will finally be replaced by a brand new one. The framework bill for this charter arrived on Tuesday at the end of the legislative process, the Councilors having voted for it by a majority of votes. The Minister Delegate in charge of Investment, Convergence and Evaluation of Public Policies, Mohcine Jazouli, made a point of giving more details on this framework law, during a meeting with the press held on Wednesday 30 November in Casablanca. But before that, the Minister insisted on recalling that the starting signal was given by His Majesty the Kingduring the’opening of parliament where He had called for a new draft investment charter to be developed as soon as possible.
But why a new charter?
“In Morocco, the level of investment represents 30% of the GDP against 22 to 25% at the level of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This is a very high investment rate that does not produce the expected results. With equivalent investments in other countries, this produces 4 to 5 times more growth. And who says growth says employment. Investment in Morocco, which is very high, does not produce wealth and jobs”, deplores the minister. Who specifies however that it was important to have this level of investment, because the country had to build its infrastructures (highways, Tangier Med, solar station…). In other words, this investment was well justified. But for the next 20 years, Morocco needs to reverse the trend and, as prescribed by the new development model, to move to 1/3 public investment and 2/3 private investment. This is the genesis of this framework law which aims to boost private investment in order to finance the social state,” explains Jazouli. In other words, the old investment charter, which is almost 27 years old, has become obsolete, because it is no longer adapted to economic developments, nor to post-Covid reality, nor to that of the environment.
It was therefore necessary to put in place a framework law that sets a repository and who puts himself above the contingencies and technical mechanisms. This law is structured around three main components: investment bonuses, the business climate and the governance of this device. “With regard to bonuses (30%), we voluntarily wanted to include this figure in the law to say that the limit is 30%. Bonus mechanisms will be put in place so that the accumulation is limited to this figure, but without ceiling limits contrary to what existed in the old charter, ”specifies the minister. According to the latter, simple and transparent mechanisms have been put in place to avoid clientelism and favouritism.
Investment support in the form of territorial and sectoral bonuses
According to the draft framework law, “investment support mechanisms have been put in place. These devices include a main device and specific devices. the main device aims to support investment projects that meet defined criteria, to reduce disparities between the provinces and prefectures of the Kingdom in terms of attracting investment and to develop investment in priority sectors of activity.
Regarding the specific devices, they tend to support investment projects of a strategic nature, very small, small and medium-sized enterprises and the development of Moroccan companies internationally”. The text also specifies that the main mechanism includes the common investment premiums referred to in Article 12 of the framework law, an additional investment premium, known asterritorial premiumgranted to investment projects carried out in the provinces or prefectures, an additional investment bonus, known as the “sector bonus”, granted to investment projects carried out in priority sectors of activity.
Get closer to the provinces to encourage investors to leave the El Jadida-Tangier axis
“Today, we are going to go down to the level of the province and no longer be satisfied with the regions. Criteria for assessing the level of development of each of the 75 prefectures and provinces of the Kingdom will be defined. Then, it will be necessary to qualify these territorial entities. This will evolve over time and be enshrined in decrees, ”notes the minister. The goal is to encourage investors to leave the El Jadida-Tangier axis.
Business climate: a multi-year roadmap
On the subject of the business climate, the Minister affirms that the government has made enormous efforts to simplify the act of investing. “We are currently working on a roadmap for improving the business climate which is intended to be flexible and adaptive. We are going to move from an annual action plan to a multi-year roadmap. If in the past, we took into account the international indices, today, it is first a question of listening to the problems of investors, particularly national ones, in order to provide them with solutions”, specifies Ghali Skalli, director of the investment in the ministry.
A National Investment Commission
As for governance, there are plans to create a National Investment Commission which will take over from the current Investment Commission with additional prerogatives. “Governance will be distributed in such a way as to meet the objectives of decentralization. Decisions will be precise at regional level. On this point, the Minister recalled that the Regional Investment Centers (CRI) will soon change supervision to pass from the bosom of the interior to that of the Head of Government.
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Investment: a multi-year roadmap in preparation
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