Morocco is no exception and this is why the government realized, 15 years ago, the magnitude of the problematic and the urgency of upgrading the Moroccan economic fabric to boost investment. This upgrading took place in two stages and through two types of reforms.

The first type concerns reforms of macro-economic and structural character. These reforms, which are called "first generation" reforms, were undertaken after the debt crisis of the 1980s to restore the sacrosanct macroeconomic balances, improve countries' creditworthiness and reduce the risk perceived by foreign investors.

The results were not so good because although the perceived risk declined and external debt was brought under control, domestic debt exploded and the social cost was very high.

Moreover, these reforms were structural and were meant to enhance the production capacity of the Moroccan economy. The acceleration of financial and monetary liberalization was one of them, through improving the general conditions of access to capital and accelerating the convertibility of the national currency.

The second most important structural reform is the gradual liberalization of foreign trade, mainly through the 1992 law which introduced the principle of trade freedom, and through opening up Morocco on the world by signing several free trade agreements.

But despite these efforts, the country's trade balance deficit has only become enormous, its opening up scale remains very low, and its ability to take advantage of the many agreements it signed is still weak. This is mainly due to the fact that Morocco's exports are hardly diversified and of low added value.

The second type of reforms, called "second generation", includes regulatory and institutional reforms. At the regulatory level, in 1995 Morocco promulgated a new legal framework for encouraging investments, namely the investment charter. This document is a legal framework based on three principles: the generalization of support measures, the harmonization of legislation and the facilitation of procedures.

Three new codes were also adopted: the trade code, the customs code which facilitated foreign trade, and the labor code in 2004 which represents a major step towards meeting Morocco's international commitments. Tax reforms were also launched in 2007, resulting in the reduction of company tax and income tax.

At the institutional level, a number of agencies were created to support and mentor investors: the AMDI, the ICC, and the ANPME, to name only a few.

However, Morocco's business climate is still suffering from many shortcomings. These were highlighted by a number of recently published surveys.

The most important among them is the high cost and scarcity of productive input, mainly skilled manpower and land, which poses serious problems related to competitiveness. The only positive point noticed in the recent years is better access to financing.

Concerning infrastructure, energy costs, specifically electricity, weigh heavy on the competitiveness of firms. Recognizing the problem, the authorities have endeavored to reduce the country's energy dependence on fossil fuels by developing renewable energies. And the "Solar Morocco" project is a case in point.

The tax burden too remains high in Morocco compared to other competitors, despite the 2007 reform which remains modest from companies' point of view.

Last but not least, firms are also facing the flaws of the judicial system which is characterized by slowness of procedures, biased and irrational judgments, and particularly corruption, the pandemic which affects all the components of society.

In fact, corruption can be contained only through reviewing attitudes and value systems, with much focus on citizenship and civism, concepts that have disappeared in our country.

In this respect, a comprehensive judicial reform is underway in Morocco. It mainly aims at strengthening the systems' independence and improving its functioning.

Obviously, the government is somehow trying to compensate for these deficits, which have saddled the business environment, but only through technical measures, which should not be the tree that hides the forest. But actually if there is real reform to be undertakes, it should be that of citizenship.