Four real estate projects are now underway in Morocco amid indications that the country's economy is well placed to weather the global economic downturn.
Construction on the Kuwaiti Gulf Holding Company's $1.3 billion Villa Royale project In Tangiers began this week and Dubai's Emaar Properties, Sama Dubai and Qatar's Diyar are all forging ahead with their developments in Morocco.
The great potential and strong prospects of the Moroccan economy encouraged the GHC to go ahead with its plan to start the project despite the financial crisis that is crippling some of the globe's strongest economies, a spokesman said.
'All the world is witnessing a painful bleeding. However, there are countries like Morocco that are not affected by the crisis,' said Ahmad Al Ameer, vice-chairman and CEO of GHC.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said the world seemed to have overlooked the positive outlook in Morocco. 'Our economic indicators are positive. We expect a positive 6% growth in 2008,' he said.
Developers are also encouraged by the Moroccan government's Vision 2010 which aims to attract 10 million tourists by 2010, and to the strong indicators of the banks and financial institutions in the northern African country, as well as its desire to open up the door for foreign investments and opportunities.
