Welcome to this week’s edition of our Weekly Risk Watch, offering insights into the economic, political, and security updates that could have significant implications for your business or daily life.
Economy and Markets:
-
Morocco’s Interior Ministry is sending inspection teams to Casablanca-Settat and Fez-Meknes to investigate alleged tax fraud and illegal quarry operations in Berrechid, Nouaceur, and Mediouna provinces, where unauthorized extraction may have cost the state millions.
-
Morocco obtained formal U.S. NOAA certification confirming its fisheries comply with the Marine Mammal Protection Act, securing continued access to the American seafood market worth $97.2 million in 2024, amid tighter import rules, heightened scrutiny, and rising global competition.
-
Morocco’s legal cannabis sector is expanding rapidly, with 67 products approved (26 cosmetics, 41 supplements), 4,400 hectares of “beldia” cultivated by 4,490 farmers in 250 cooperatives, and 1,340 hectares with imported seeds grown by 1,650 farmers in 50 cooperatives.
-
Morocco’s government said state tax revenues are set to nearly double from MAD 199 billion in 2020 to MAD 363 billion by 2026, budget deficits fall from 7% to 3%, and public debt ease to 65.8% of GDP.
-
Morocco has launched its 2025-2026 grain import season with strong early activity by local buyers, taking advantage of stable international prices near MAD 260 per quintal and a steady exchange rate, while soft wheat subsidies will remain suspended in September.
-
Morocco has nearly eradicated extreme poverty, with multidimensional poverty falling from 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024, yet urban poverty and vulnerability have risen since 2019, and inequality has climbed back to 40.5% in 2022.
-
The EU has approved a mandate for new trade negotiations with Morocco, allowing the European Commission to amend Protocols 1 and 4 of the Euro-Mediterranean Agreement, potentially covering the Moroccan Sahara.
-
Morocco’s central bank faces a choice to hold or cut its key rate at 2.25% ahead of its September 23 meeting, amid moderate inflation, falling lending rates, steady growth, and global monetary uncertainty.
-
Italian exports to Morocco rose 7% in the first half of 2025 to €1.5 billion, outpacing Italy’s overall 2.1% export growth, while imports increased 4.6% to €300 billion
-
Morocco’s banking liquidity deficit eased 7.48% to MAD 130.9 billion, Bank Al-Maghrib raised seven-day advances to 59.05 billion, treasury placements fell, the weighted average rate stayed at 2.25%, and the MONIA index dipped to 2.218%.
-
Morocco will boost maritime connectivity this autumn with two new shipping lines, including ONE’s biweekly Spain–Portugal–Morocco route from 16 October linking Valencia, Lisbon, and Casablanca, improving access for agrifood and industrial exporters to Iberian and global markets.
-
Morocco’s aerospace exports rose 8.9% in H1 2025 to MAD14.13 billion, driven by assembly components and EWIS, building on 2024’s 26.4 billion record, with over 150 firms, 26,000 jobs, and global partnerships including Airbus, Boeing, and Safran.
-
Morocco’s HCP survey shows 72% of wholesale traders expect Q3 2025 sales to remain stable, 20% anticipate growth, order books and employment largely steady.
Political Stability:
-
Al Haouz earthquake survivors denounce exclusion from reconstruction aid, claim 11,000 families still live under tents despite official reports of 24,000 homes rebuilt, and demand a fact-finding probe, royal oversight, and 2026 budget measures for mountain development.
-
Parents and residents rescued children from a school bus trapped by floodwaters in Tiznit province’s Tasrirte area after heavy rains caused river overflows, with no intervention from local authorities.
-
More than half of Morocco’s 11 million workers lack retirement coverage, with only 3.5 million in the formal private sector, 970,000 civil servants, 187,000 in public institutions, and the Moroccan Pension Fund facing potential insolvency by 2028.
-
Residents of Azilal province have staged several protests since July over roads, healthcare, and internet access, spreading across multiple villages and signaling distrust in elected officials, with demands for basic services, water, healthcare, and construction reforms.
-
Morocco’s Interior Ministry ordered local authorities to enforce dormant demolition rulings on illegal villas, warehouses, and shops along the Rabat–Casablanca axis, including properties owned by current and former elected officials, amid suspicions of collusion and selective urban planning enforcement
Cross-Border Stability:
-
Moroccan trucking unions are demanding that the government provide armed protection and coordinate with Sahel countries following the kidnapping of Senegalese drivers by armed men in western Mali. This could endanger the safety of Moroccan drivers, especially as four were freed in northeastern Burkina Faso after being seized in January by militants linked to the Islamic State in the Sahel.
-
Human rights activists urged the UN Human Rights Council to investigate alleged abuses in Algeria’s Tindouf refugee camps, accusing the Polisario Front of arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and killings, and calling on Algeria to assume responsibility.
-
A Casablanca court seized 1,500 cattle aboard the Spanish vessel FALCON-UA after a Moroccan importer, who paid €2.65 million, accused the supplier of halting operations and shipping under a different company, while customs blocked unloading, risking livestock losses.
-
Human rights activists at the UN Human Rights Council exposed development denial and modern slavery in Tindouf camps in Algeria, which have been transformed into militarized zones controlled by armed groups, preventing progress like that seen in Morocco’s southern provinces
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.