Morocco to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015

This conclusion was confirmed by many studies and analyses carried out by the United Nations, the UN Development Programme and HCP, Lahlimi underlined during a workshop on the presentation of the 2009 national report on MDGs.

Recalling that Morocco was able to reduce the 1990s growth and human development deficits, he noted that the achievements made in terms of economic, social and urban infrastructure contributed to the decentralisation of the nation's economy and a better distribution of jobs, incomes and basic social services.

The large-scale anti-poverty programme "National Initiative for Human Development" (INDH) has contributed to minimizing the rates of unemployment and poverty during the last decade through improving the living conditions of the populations, particularly in rural areas, he said.

Lahlimi noted that though Morocco's economy has shown relative resilience due to the effects of the global economic crisis, it lost 0.9% of its GDP growth rate in 2008 and 2.4% in 2009.

Moreover, Morocco's economy expanded by 7.8% year on year in the final quarter of 2009, taking the full-year rate of GDP growth to an average of 5.2%, said the UK think-tank, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

Terming as "impressive" the fourth-quarter growth rate, the think-tank said value-added output from the agricultural sector swelled by 26.9%, while output from mining and energy rose by 10.2%.

Manufacturing and construction activity grew by 3.8% and 6.1% respectively, said the EIU, adding that following this strong performance, Morocco was upgraded to investment grade by ratings agency Standard & Poor's in March.

Changes in agricultural output can have a significant effect on private consumption, added the think-tank, noting that the non-agricultural sector's role will increase over the longer term as manufacturing develops and construction expands on the back of government housing and infrastructure projects.