Morocco

SME development policy and programmes in Morocco

In 2019, the economic fabric in Morocco consisted of 93% of very small, small and medium-sized enterprises that are highly concentrated in services (86%) as opposed to industry. The Ministry of Industry, Trade, Green and Digital Economy oversees the SME development policy that is aligned and serves the Industrial Acceleration Plan (2014-2020) through support to ecosystems. The national SME Agency (Maroc PME) deploys several support programs for MSME and entrepreneurship. Access to finance ranks at the top of the difficulties plaguing SMEs, alongside payment deadlines, skills and use of technology, access to professional land, public procurements, supporting services in the regions and access to international market. In response to the above MSMEs needs, several programmes have been set up to support MSME competitiveness investments (IMTIAZ, ISTITMAR) and access to finance (CCG guarantee windows). In addition, since 2014 an auto-entrepreneur legal status has been set up to facilitate the formalization of natural person who exercises in his personal name an independent activity, based on his own work force and skills or know-how. Auto-entrepreneurs benefit of administrative procedures and simplified tax and social procedures. Several international donors (EU/EBRD, GIZ, WB-IFC, ADB) intervene in Morocco to consolidate national initiatives towards SME and private sector development.

SMEs supporting measures to cope with COVID-19 pandemic consequences

To cope with the socio-economic impact of COVID-19, Morocco created a Special Fund for upgrading the sanitary system and supporting the national economy. An economic committee was set up under the Ministry of Economy and Finance to monitor the economic situation and identify measures to support affected sectors including through the suspension of payment of social charges, specific indemnities, as well as the postponement of payments of bank and leasing credits. To help companies suffering from cash flow difficulties, an additional credit line guaranteed by the State has been activated via the Central Guarantee Fund. In addition, a zero-rate credit line for auto-entrepreneurs was launched and a grant up to 80% of the cost of technical expertise will be provided to industrial MSMEs developing Covid19 responses. READ MORE

SBA coordinator and MED MSME working group

The Small Business Act national coordinator – SBAC in Morocco is Mr Brahim Arjdal - General Manager of Maroc PME. Under his supervision MED MSMEs working groups composed of institutional and private sector representatives have been established to collaborate to the programme implementation, mainly in the areas of access to finance and SME internationalization.

The Working Groups (WG)

In order to ensure that the regional level activities integrate the national priorities on the two specific topics and translate into impact at the country level, the Programme implementation will rely on the establishment - under the coordination of the SBA Coordinators - of at least two working groups in each of the partner countries, one for MSME Access to Finance and one for MSME Internationalisation.

These working groups are formed of relevant policy makers, regulatory bodies, public agencies, representatives of the private sector and – when possible – representatives of the national legislative body; the EU Delegation representatives and relevant development partners will be invited to participate to the working sessions. The working groups will not exceed 15 members of which at least one third will be women.

The working groups are responsible for:

Providing a consultative input on the technical deliverables.

Assisting in the production of the national roadmaps for implementing the tools developed at regional level.

Facilitating the collection of relevant programme information at national level.

Facilitating the mobilization of stakeholders, programmes, resources and instruments that can gear up the implementation of the road maps at country level.

Resources

EU delegation