The central objective of this is to make up for the economic delay, narrow the enormous social disparities and give rise to a true middle class, which is the motor of development in any country.

Hence, the country has implemented a number of macro-economic, sectoral and infrastructural reforms.

It was thought at the beginning that this would help Morocco find the virtuous path of a just, stable, durable and above all fair growth, whose impact is felt at all the levels of the population, especially amongst the most disadvantaged.

It was thought that this growth would be fairly distributed between the regions of the kingdom, in order to curb the disparities between rural and urban areas. It was thought would be more human because it is more social. In a nutshell, growth at the service of sustainable development.

But has this really taken place? Ten years after the implementation of this vision, a progress report should be drawn up.

In fact, if we rely solely on the figures available, we can say that the results, from an accounting point of view, though encouraging, remain modest. Of course, the effects of the crisis on the Moroccan economy, which are quite severe in some sectors, should be taken into consideration, but some major trends can still be identified.

Firstly, at the level of our economic fundamentals, as Morocco has been presented as a model student in this regard, the results are mixed. Growth was very inadequate in the year 2009, a modest recovery is projected for 2010. We then should wait till 2011 at best to see a full recovery.

For its part, the trade balance is terrible, due to the lack of a real vision in our export policy and, more importantly, it is no longer offset by tourism revenues and transfers of Moroccans living abroad. Likewise, the flow of foreign investments, steadily rising in recent years, reached their nadir in 2008 and 2009.

More over, Morocco's rating in terms of business climate has extremely deteriorated between 2008 and 2009. As it was expected, Morocco's rating among risk countries has also worsened. The only positive aspect in these fundamentals is the control of inflation and the achievement of a budget surplus for the first time in its history, thanks to the tax reform undertaken in recent years.

But here again, caution is needed since the state revenues under the 2010 budget is promising many surprises. A number of promises related to the improvement of Moroccans purchasing power will not be delivered. And the impasse blocking the Social Dialogue is already a result.

Naturally, optimists could always console themselves by saying that Morocco has a number of ambitious and proactive sectoral plans. But what about its practical applicability on the ground, what about the fact that these plans have not been designed by the ones primarily concerned, that is Moroccans, but by research agencies from foreign countries.

We can legitimately wonder about the knowledge that the experts of these agencies really have about Morocco, about how these experts carried out their work, and finally about the overall adequacy of these plans adopted with great fanfare.

In sum, we have moved from the dictatorship of international institutions, with all that this has cost Morocco in social terms, to the dictatorship of consulting agencies, as if Morocco does not have adequate resources to reflect on its own future. How can such Plans work under these conditions?

Finally, as we said earlier, a growth that does not serve the social and human purposes is incomplete. What about the social balance in Morocco? It appears that the neo-liberal economic policy inspired by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank has created no better social balance. We have not yet achieved a significant reduction of unemployment. And the same thing can be said about social and territorial disparities.

The development of unemployment rate in Morocco reflects this failure, as it does not fall to sufficient levels, mainly for the urban youth and graduates. Even worse, the inequality in educational supply creates long term mass unemployment in popular neighborhoods, which constitute a fertile ground for illegal immigration or terrorism.

These social disparities are more conspicuous in urban areas, between residential and suburban neighborhoods. This latter, marked by lawlessness and uncontrolled growth, could eventually lead to social instability problems for the state. Not to mention the negative impact of inequality in the countryside, and the growth of the informal sector from which many families win their bread.

What is then the way out? For a true and inclusive youth integration policy, there needs to be a general overhaul of our educational and training system, an integrated development vision based on regional development, and finally the participation of citizens in the development process of their country. This is the path to follow if Morocco wants to reconcile with development.