Morocco has been ranked 5th among the most attractive Arab countries for foreign direct investment. The Annual report issued by the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation considers Morocco as an appealing destination for foreign investors in the Maghreb region. According to the latest report issued by the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation, the Kingdom of Morocco is the most attractive nation in the Maghreb area for foreign investors. The survey that analyzes yearly 109 countries, ranks Morocco as the 5th most appealing nation for direct foreign investments in 2016, within the 16 ranked Arab countries. The regional scale shows that the North African kingdom attracts USD 2.5 billion worth of FDI overtaking neighboring nations such as Algeria 6th, Tunisia 9th and Libya 11th. The list was topped by the UAE as 1st among Arab nations followed by Egypt 2nd, Saudi Arabia 3rd, and Lebanon as 4th. Meanwhile, Morocco was ranked 5th in the list of new foreign projects attractiveness with a backlog total USD 6.5 billion, representing 7.1% of the total new foreign projects in the MENA region. This part was also topped by Egypt with USD 40.9 billion dollars representing more than 44% of the new projects landing in the abovementioned geographic area. Morocco, an attractive nation for foreign investors According to the study, investments in Morocco were mostly focused during the period between January 2012 and December 2016 on 10 main sectors among which renewable energy, real estate, and automotive industry respectively. The report showed that the most important investors in Morocco over the past five years were originating from France, China, the UAE, the USA, Spain and Italy with investments totalling respectively USD 3.5 billion, USD 2.8 billion, USD 2.7 billion dollars, USD 1.8 billion, USD 1.6 billion and USD 1.5 billion. The report highlighted the most important products that Morocco exports including electronic devices, railways products, clothes, fertilizers and fish. Foreign direct investments in Egypt have been raised from USD 4.35 billion to USD 6.59 billion during the latest monitored period. The same source also revealed that the 5 most important foreign companies that invest in Morocco during the last five years were Shanghai Electric, Enel, Group PSA, Middle East Development and AP Moller Maerk. This report launched on the 11th of July, relies on 58 indices and factors to give an over view about foreign investment in 109 countries in order to help decision-makers and researchers to have an idea about every nation's status and performance in comparison to its peers. Hence, the survey which published this year its 32nd edition investigates the attractiveness of the aforementioned nations. Globally, it indicates that the 2016 results have shown a slight decline amounting of 1.6% (17.46 billion dollars) while foreign direct investment revenues reached by the end of the year 26.72 billion dollars.
