Morocco: 98% of Businesses Are Small, Growth Nearly Stalled According to Economic Council Study
The Economic, Social, and Environmental Council recently revealed in a study that Morocco’s business landscape is suffering from structural stagnation, with micro and very small enterprises representing more than 98% of all structured businesses in the country. However, their actual economic contribution remains weak.
The study, titled “Challenges of Micro, Very Small and Small Enterprises in Morocco: Growth, Modernization, and Development,” indicated that although this segment accounts for over 56% of declared jobs in the private sector, its impact on value creation and productivity falls short of expectations, limiting its ability to support developmental dynamics.
The report noted that the percentage of micro enterprises that successfully transitioned to larger categories was less than 0.2% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the number of bankruptcies and business failures rose to about 15,000 cases in 2024, most of which were very small businesses.
Various factors were identified as contributing to this situation, including weak management capabilities, financing issues, fragile digitalization, market access difficulties, complicated administrative procedures, high tax burdens, and unfair competition from the informal sector.
The Council called for a comprehensive approach to rehabilitate these businesses, proposing the enactment of specific legislation for small enterprises, the development of a national non-financial support plan, enhancement of vocational education and training to build skills, improvement of funding mechanisms, and better investment climate to open markets for these businesses to grow and compete.
The report emphasized that revitalizing this vital sector requires strong political will and well-coordinated institutional efforts to transform small enterprises from fragile entities into engines of growth, employment, and sustainable development.
