Morocco Country Profile

Licences, Infrastructure and Public Utilities

Individual Corruption

Certification of administrative documents usually involves contact with several civil servants, increasing the calculated risk of encountering corruption and the possibility of having to pay bribes.

Business Corruption

Dealing with licences in Morocco is cumbersome and time consuming. However, Morocco perfroms well with regard to the process of starting a business. Indeed, figures from the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009 indicate that Morocco has a substantial competitive advantage in the region with regards to the time and number of procedures required to start a business.

On the other hand, observers note that permits are slow to be issued and that obtaining local government permits often requires the payment of bribes. Moreover, according to Global Integrity 2008, the issuing of a number of licences and permits is subject to preferential treatment and possibly also bribes. These include the right to have a taxi in the urban and interurban areas, transportation amenities, offshore and fishing rights, alcohol licences, the use of natural sand etc.

Frequency

The World Bank: Doing Business 2009:
- 6 procedures are required to start a business, taking an average of 12 days and costing 10% of the income per capita.

World Economic Forum: The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009:
- Business leaders give government regulations (permits, regulations, reporting) in Morocco a score of 3.5 on a 7-point scale (1 being 'burdensome' and 7 'not burdensome'), constituting a competitive advantage.

Transparency International: Global Corruption Barometer 2006:
- Citizens give the registry and permit services a score of 4.1 on a 5-point scale (1 being 'not at all corrupt' and 5 'extremely corrupt').