Morocco, medium-stable country for business investments

Curated by global specialist risk consultancy Control Risks, a risk map graded Morocco a six, making it a “medium-stable” country in North Africa and the Middle East region for business.

Control Risks said “Risks to business for this risk category are moderate and stable. Political, security, operational, and/or integrity issues pose some challenges to business. Companies with effort can manage challenges to sustain normal business operations.”

The consultancy offers an outlook for the business risk environment in each country on a ten-point scale. The score is a composite risk score that factors in Control Risks’ political, security, operational, regulatory, cyber, and integrity risks, including a range of ESG-related (environmental, social, and governance) risks. 

It also assesses the severity of cyber and digital threats to an organization’s activities and/or staff in a specific country. The ratings reflect the overall capabilities and intent of the country’s state-sponsored, criminal, and activist threat actors operating in or targeting it. 

“As countries realign and reorient, global businesses will need to pay attention to the individual interests of a wider range of stakeholders,” said Control Risks.

In the MENA region, Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia also stand at the same level, being ‘medium to stable’ countries to operate in.

Algeria, Egypt Turkey, and Israel are labeled a seven, which is ‘medium increasing/ high decreasing’, as risks to business for this risk category are moderate and changing. Political, security, operational, and/or integrity issues pose rising or elevated threats to business and require intensive management in some areas, explained the consultancy.

As it conducted a thorough assessment of business in each country as well as observing the global economy, Control Risks said that the damaging effects of the excess debt and recent inflation are still working their way through political and economic systems. 

“Growth is hard to find, and emerging economies in particular find themselves wrestling with the need to create jobs and invest at a time where debt costs are surging. Many nations borrowed to support themselves during the pandemic, but this was emergency spending rather than investment and is now a significant drag on financial resources. Economic stresses all too quickly feed into political ones and the populism and nationalism of recent years is set to continue,” further explained CEO Nick Allan.