Morocco is expected to emerge as the fastest growing economy in North Africa, with its GDP rising 3.8% in 2014 and nearly 5% in 2015, as the new consensus government ends a period of uncertainty and paves the way for bolder economic reforms, according to Institute of International Finance. CONTINUE READING

While the rest of North Africa is imploding, Morocco is quietly working through its challenges. CONTINUE READING

SpreadTheMagic / Foter / CC BY-NC-ND

Qatar and Morocco will be the fastest growing Middle East economies this year, but emerging market economies are facing the dual challenge of slow growth and tightening global liquidity, according to the International Monetary Fund’s latest report. CONTINUE READING

mikebaird / Foter / CC BY

It’s early days yet, but several international companies are sniffing around Morocco’s offshore basins in the hunt for oil and gas. CONTINUE READING

XcBiker / Foter / CC BY-SA

Mauritania, lodged between Morocco and Guinea on the African bulge in the West, is just the latest African country being eyed by energy companies. CONTINUE READING

Jaimito Cartero / Foter / CC BY

Isofoton.es / Foter.com / CC BY

There is a reason why the European Union picked Morocco as the first North African country to begin its free trade agreement negotiations with last week. CONTINUE READING

There is a reason why the European Union picked Morocco as the first North African country to begin its free trade agreement negotiations with last week. CONTINUE READING

Mbenoist / Foter.com / CC BY-SA

Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Algeria are at high risk to a Eurozone meltdown, but Gulf states hardly have reason to be complacent, according to new research. CONTINUE READING

January 17, 2012

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters

“The proper man understands equity, the small man profits.” Confucius.

The year 2011 was the year for [Malaysia] Shariah compliant index out-performance against all conventional developed and emerging market country indicies and almost all frontier countries.

The Islamic finance industry has not talked up the Islamic equity capital market story, as the Islamic debt capital market poster child, ‘Sukuk,’ has become the alter-ego of Islamic finance. But, does that amount to concentration brand and business risk for a $1 trillion, where Sukuk are, at best, 20% of Islamic finance?
Read More

January 2, 2012

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance, Thomson Reuters 2011

“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”Bill Vaughn.

Islamic finance is staying up for new year for …….

The survey format is straight forward, 16 questions with multiple answers.
Read More

By Alon Ben-Meir

Due to a host of common denominators in the Arab world including the lack of traditional liberalism, the tribes’ power, the elites’ control of business, the hold on power by ethnic minorities, the military that cling to power, and the religious divide and Islamic extremism, the Arab Spring could sadly turn into a long and cruel winter. These factors are making the transformation into a more reformist governance, slow, filled with hurdles and punctuated with intense bloodshed. At the same time, each Arab country differs characteristically from one another on other dimensions including: history and culture, demographic composition, the role of the military, resources, and geostrategic situations. This combination of commonality and uniqueness has had, and will continue to have, significant impacts on how the uprising in each Arab country evolves and what kind of political order might eventually emerge.

Read More

By Rushdi Siddiqui, Global Head of Islamic Finance at Thomson Reuters

The time has arrived to take a deeper dive on better understanding of Shariah compliant companies in an Islamic (or Shariah compliant) equity indexes. To many informed and uninformed observers of Islamic equity investing, it seems to imply investing in publicly listed companies in Muslim countries.

The end results contradict the assumptions. This also rebuts the often heard allegations by many from the anti-Shariah movement that Islamic investing is about investing in companies linked to terrorism or financing terrorism. The largest companies in the S&P Global BMI Shariah include ExxonMobil, IBM, Chevron, Nestle, Microsoft, etc.
Read More

Whether western countries and ME liberals like it or not, Islamic parties have emerged victorious in elections in North African states. Before typecasting and dismissing them, Islamic parties deserve to get a fair chance at leading their people.

The Western world and media are terrified of the rise of Islamic parties in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. READ MORE HERE

You won’t find Anas Sefrioui on the Forbes richest list, but that does not mean he is not worthy of their attention. Having raked in $2.6-billion, he has made it into Bloomberg’s short list of hidden billionaires.

The newswire notes that Sefrioui founded the property development company Douja Promotion Groupe Addoha in 1988.

“With the help of government subsidies, the company has built more than 190,000 homes spanning almost 15,000 acres throughout Morocco.
It has diversified into cement and resorts… Sefrioui earned more than $330million by selling shares during the company’s 2006 public offering
on the Casablanca Stock Exchange, filings show.”

Read More

Spring is nearly six months old. It is time to take stock, remember those who lost their lives and continue to fight, and hand out some well-deserved awards to the key players.

The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof, asked the rhetorical question ‘What Country Handled Arab Spring The Best? His own answer: Morocco.

But he left the discussion at that. Given that the Arab Spring is just about six months old, alifarabia.com was inspired to take stock of how the various countries have handled a revolution that has smashed Middle East dogmas, broken the will of Arab strongmen and given hopes to millions not just in the Arab World but also around the world.

The Middle East has seen more public participation in politics in the past six months than it has done over the past 50 years. Much to the shock of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Hosni Mubarak and Moamer Qaddhafi, the people of the Arab World launched a unique coup that they could not have fathom and never saw coming. These strongmen were looking to suppress indigenous Islamic movements, the radicals, Al-Qaeda sympathisers, the socialists, the Shiaas and the sufis. They were looking for tangible forces they could fight, and suppress and imprison and maim - as they had done in the past.

READ MORE HERE

In a landmark speech the Moroccan king offered to reduce his powers under a new more democratic Constitution. Can this overture quell political descent and serve as a role model for other monarchies? READ MORE HERE

The potential inclusion of Morocco and Jordan in the GCC fold should be taken for what it is – a political move by the Gulf states to widen their sphere of influence in the region.

There is, of course, nothing wrong with it. The United States has done it with NAFTA, the EU has been handing out membership forms to many countries within their vicinity; there is of course the ASEAN, and even BRIC nations have recruited South Africa in their club – they are now called BRICS. Read The Full Article On Economonitor

Jordan and Morocco’s possible inclusion in the Gulf is a political move rather than an economic one, but there might be other - unlikely - candidates in the region far suitable for the purpose.

The potential inclusion of Morocco and Jordan in the GCC fold should be taken for what it is - a political move by the Gulf states to widen their sphere of influence in the region. Read More Here

Most Gulf states offer some of the lowest tax rates to Forbes 2000 companies. But is there a link between the trouble in other Middle East states and their tax rates? Read More Here