Morocco’s Economy, Arab Revolutions and Press Freedom in Morocco

Interview with Abdelmounaïm Dilami, CEO of Groupe Eco-Medias – L’economiste

Morocco’s economy is ranked 114 among 183 economies worldwide. How do you see Morocco in terms of the ease of doing business, what reforms could affect it and what is your long-term vision for the country?

A distinction must be made between the administrative or organizational level and the geographic or economic one. In the case of Morocco, reforms must be made at the administrative level.

The country has inherited the Jacobin model, meaning that the state is relatively centralized and very bureaucratic. This slows down investments that require more timely and responsive procedures. There is a problem with the organization of the state and the philosophy behind it, which needs to be put into question. This is not to say it is an ineffective state, but a highly procedural one. When rules are laid down with the purpose of efficiency, the foundations that gave reason for the rules to come into being may happen to be forgotten over time, but the procedure survives as a dogma. Morocco is somewhat in this kind of situation.

As for the second aspect, Morocco is in the proximity of Europe, but also of the Arab and African world. It is clear that economic development cannot be detached from the overall context in which it operates. Given its context, Morocco is evolving as quickly as possible. There are of course the effects of the state itself, but the geographical and historical context also plays a role in the economy.

The Arab revolution is a major event involving long term consequences. What effects will the revolution have on Morocco and the whole region?

We are witnessing a historic turning point that. The previous Arab regimes claimed a historical legitimacy: the founding fathers like Bourguiba or Nasser enjoyed a great popular legitimacy. Once the founders were gone, their successors had no longer any historical, democratic or economic authority.

Beyond the formal legality, where a constitution is imposed or freely accepted, there is also the psychological state of the population to be considered. And in this case, there was no support from the masses. We are now looking for a new kind of legitimacy, hopefully a democratic one instead of a regressive one, religious or otherwise.  

How will it evolve?

This is the beginning of a long process. We do not know how it will evolve since revolutionary processes do not end in a year or two. What is important is that little by little a cultural and ideological direction is formed, upon which power can be built. Otherwise, the country will be unstable for decades. Morocco is still in the beginning of a process that can lead to the worst as it can lead to the best. It is often the most violent and determined social groups that matter and not necessarily those with the best vision for the future of society. So it is a kind of process which can create both a fascist regime as well as a democratic one. It is a mistake to believe that a revolution leads to democracy, it is not automatic.

What does an Arab revolution mean for Morocco?

So far, there have been two dominant authorities – religion and history, which have always been interrelated and continue to be so. In order for the Moroccan mentality to change over time, it is necessary that the system be able to meet other aspirations.

What has saved Morocco until now, meaning that the situation has not evolved in the same way as in Egypt, is that the legitimacy claimed by the power is also recognized by the people. An important aspect is that these revolutions are led by the middle class, in Marxist terms. It is a social category that has witnessed some positive developments but aspires to much more, wanting to align itself to the standards of more advanced countries.

How do you evaluate the press freedom in Morocco? Where is the line between regulation and total freedom?

These past ten years, the freedom of the press and the freedom of expression in general have greatly evolved. The problem we are now facing is the consequence of the relatively quick liberalisation of society. There are two main actors: firstly, the political actors who are not yet accustomed to being the subjects of the bitter criticism that comes with democracy; secondly, there is the media, who sometimes goes beyond its role of witness or observer and starts handing out instructions. I consider it quite normal, as liberalization involves a number of contradictions that eventually subside and are integrated into society. Criticism is not the end of the world, but it is a habit to acquire and manage.

Is the Moroccan power ready to face criticism?

In this phase of history,  There is main groups in the power: political parties, palace…. and so on. Socio-dominant groups are changing: new elites are rising while others are fading out. If monarchy is to be considered, it poses no problems when it comes to the freedom of expression, as it can handle criticism. On the contrary, the elites around it are more problematic. But this is temporary. History is evolving.

How do you perceive the evolution of the press on the Internet?

For now, we are in a phase where the Internet is to our advantage, because the press in Morocco has not yet prospected its potential customers. This is due to several reasons: for one, it has no distribution network. Distribution is costly and inefficient, and most small towns are hardly reachable. Secondly, the liberalization of the press is still recent – it does not yet present the reader with the full range of choices it can offer in an open society. Eventually, the Moroccan press will reach the same level of development as in Europe, where the daily newspapers decreased in number and the regional press grew in importance. It will take around a decade to reach that kind of structure. The current potential needs to be exhausted first.

How do you analyze the performance of the Eco-Media group?

The group has two daily newspapers – The Economist and Assabah, a radio station – Atlantic Radio, and two magazines. It has a print an a school. So the group’s strategy is to diversify the supply in relation to its market. The goal is not to grow in the same segment and compete with ourselves, but instead to spread to potential readers. We have a clear vision of market and so far the strategy has worked. The Moroccan market is currently evolving positively: while the Arab revolution will lead to profound changes, the market will not collapse and the Moroccan society will live through this phase.

What is your outlook for the future as a group in relation to the revolution?

The media has a key role in such historic events, being able to lead towards good and bad. Unlike other commercial products, the media bears intellectual and ideological aspects. Our group is obviously carrying a liberal message in the philosophical, economic and political sense, and it we will continue to support this direction.

What is your group development strategy? Will you strengthen your presence on the Internet?

Our group was among the first to publish a newspaper on the web. The Economist website is the largest documentary database on the Moroccan economy since 1991 and it is available for free. The group has been present on the Internet since early on and will continue to strengthen its presence in parallel to the printed publishing. Consequently, we have rebuilt our three websites to keep up to date. The current problem with the Internet is that it is not yet profitable. The investment in the web is a long term investment and all media groups are experiencing this issue. In addition to that, it is not possible to get paid online in Morocco for the time being, because technically the system is not yet implemented.

On a global level, if the media continues to offer free access, it will lose in terms of content quality. From an intellectual and ideological product, it will become a purely commercial product. If the media companies move in that direction, there will be a huge gap in terms of quality between articles reserved for the subscribing elite and the free articles accessible to everybody. That would be a shame, because the whole work of humanity during the twentieth century was to popularize the knowledge and culture for everyone. Another social category could be born this way.

What is the relationship between your printed press and the electronic one? Are they in competition with each other?

For the moment there is no real competition. The web in fact replicates the traditional media, which is the basis of information. I also believe that there is no competition because the intellectual and psychological approaches towards the two mediums differ. It is quite possible that future generations will develop on this new trend that we are seeing. Currently, three intellectual and social groups can be distinguished: the minority of book readers, the slightly larger group of newspaper readers and the majority of television and Internet consumers. In terms of approaches to knowledge, a very selective form of elitism is developing. Now that all information is available online, there is no need to store data mentally. But at the same time, mentally stored information influences the way of thinking. A new kind of individual, with a new approach to knowledge, could be born this way. It remains to be seen in the next fifty or sixty years.

We talked a little about economy. How will the Moroccan economy evolve?

I think that Morocco will get through this phase with little damage. The state is experiencing profound changes that will accelerate the reform of society. Economically, Morocco is closely linked to the European economy given the fact that it is our biggest market and our leading supplier, with an important cultural influence. The Moroccan economy has survived the last crisis, which means that it is sufficiently strong and that the market is large enough to permit a sustainable economic structure enabling continuity. At the same time, major structural projects have been initiated in recent years: highways and ports – major works that will have an influence on the rest of the economy and will permanently change the surrounding areas. Of course, Morocco, with an illiteracy rate of 30-40% of the population, bears little resemblance to countries like Germany of France. But, as the illiteracy rate decreases and the population becomes operational, there is every reason to be cautiously optimistic about Morocco’s economic development.