Over the past decade, Morocco has made great strides in modernizing its economy and business environment. Regulatory reform has been driven by Morocco’s membership in the World Trade Organization, the Association Agreement with the European Union, free trade agreements with other countries in the region, and the recent negotiation of a free trade agreement with the United States. Yet Morocco lags in terms of its underlying competitiveness structures, placing 8th among 12 Arab countries (as rated by the World Economic Forum), or 102nd out of 155 countries ranked by the World Bank in Doing Business in 2006.

The project’s mandate is to assist the government’s efforts to forge a legal and regulatory framework and build the institutions necessary to promote the growth of competitive businesses and accelerate the pace of job creation. The project takes a systematic approach to the implementation of regulatory reform to enhance the competitiveness of the country’s economy, build the regulatory and judicial systems and capabilities needed, improve the workings of the financial system, and remedy features of the tax system that keep many businesses from competing openly in the formal sector.

In the regulatory policy reform arena, DAI staff focus on establishment of a system of monitoring business climate and business perceptions at the national and regional levels; support for enhanced regulatory transparency; assistance in the development of improved investment promotion policies; support for transparency in establishing and accessing technical regulations and standards; and development of an action plan for more effective investment promotion policies.

The DAI team also supports judicial reform, including bankruptcy law reform; training and assistance for (mandatory) continuing legal education; support for the implementation of trademark opposition; strengthening of administrative systems in commercial courts; and expansion of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms

Finally, the project supports development of a private credit bureau for bank checks and trade bills, modernization of registry systems for movable collateral, and improved access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises. [SEGIR Macro II IQC]