Morocco

Morocco aims to become a major industrial hub in Africa. To do so, it is taking steps to transform its administration and ensure the sustainable growth of its emerging digital economy and society. This review analyses the efforts under way to integrate digital technologies  in the public sector, and provides policy advice to support the Kingdom of Morocco in implementing a strategic digital government policy.

This report examines how current legal provisions in Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia are impacting women’s ability to fully participate in economic life, both as employees and entrepreneurs. It is based on a comparative analysis of the various rights set out in constitutions, personal status laws, labour laws, in addition to tax and business laws. The report recognises the considerable progress made – in particular in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings – following the adoption of constitutional and institutional reforms to strengthen women’s status.Yet ensuring sufficient opportunities for women remains a challenge in the six countries. The report suggests that this may be due to different factors such as: the existence of certain laws that are gender discriminatory, contradictions between various legal frameworks, lack of enforcement mechanisms, and barriers for women in accessing justice.  Through targeted policies, countries can tackle these challenges, and help unleash women’s potential to boost growth, competitiveness and inclusive social development.

Close to 3 million people who were born in Morocco lived in OECD countries in 2010/11. To assess the potential that this group represents for the Moroccan economy, this review looks at the distribution of Moroccan emigrants over OECD countries, as well as their age, sex, and educational attainment. It analyses the labour market outcomes of Moroccan emigrants and documents the characteristics of return migrants in Morocco. Moroccan emigrants primarily reside in France, followed by Spain and Italy, where their numbers grew strongly before flows were affected by the economic crisis. Moroccan emigrants have lower educational attainment and less favourable labour market outcomes than native-born persons in destination countries, and many work in low-skill occupations. Those who have returned to Morocco are often retired, but they are also especially likely to become entrepreneurs there.

This study analyses initiatives undertaken in Morocco to support the management of critical risks. It covers steps taken by central government and local authorities, research centres, the private sector, and civil society. It focuses particularly on questions relating to the governance of risks, co-ordination, and the engagement of key stakeholders. The analysis looks at the entire risk management cycle, including risk assessment, prevention and mitigation, emergency response and management, recovery and reconstruction. It also identifies the challenges that Morocco still needs address in order to improve the resilience of its economy and society to critical risks.

This report contains the 2014 'Phase 2: Implementation of the Standards in Practice' Global Forum review of Morocco.The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 130 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Forum on an equal footing.The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These standards are primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting party. 'Fishing expeditions' are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard.All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.