Separated by Spain
by less than 20 km of sea, the kingdom of Morocco has had a long history of political,
economic and cultural interaction with Europe. The country has one of the larger economies
in Africa. A former French and Spanish protectorate, Morocco gained its independence in
March 1956.
Notwithstanding
rapid industrialisation, annual economic growth rates are determined by the agricultural
sector which absorbs 40% of the work force. Drought
conditions in 1997 depressed activity in the key agricultural sector, holding down exports
and contributing to a 2.2% contraction in real GDP. The thrust of government policy is to
reduce the dependence on rainfed agriculture. Tourism is a key foreign exchange earner. A
major change in economic policy was announced in 1996, when parliament approved a
privatisation programme, subsequently extended to sectors previously deemed strategic,
such as power generation, oil refining and telecommunications.
Morocco is one of the
three remaining monarchies in Africa. The constitution allows the king to exercise power
and to appoint the cabinet. There is an elected parliament in which many parties are
represented since the introduction of a multiparty system in 1977.
In 1999, Morocco had
a well-developed telecommunications network with over 1,466,600 connected telephone lines,
resulting in a telephone density of 5.26 line per hundred people.
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