Speaking at the House of Representatives, Akhannouch stressed that the number of tourists visiting the Kingdom continued to rise to record levels, exceeding 14.5 million tourists in 2023, adding that by the end of September 2024, a total of 13.1 million tourists had been recorded, an increase of 2 million compared to the same period in 2023 and 29% compared to the same period in 2019.

With regard to tourism revenues, Akhannouch noted that the recovery plan put in place by the government in the first few months of its investiture with a view to overcoming the crisis, as well as the implementation of a new roadmap for the tourism sector, “have demonstrated their effectiveness.”

He also spoke of the contribution made by Moroccans living abroad to increasing the Kingdom's foreign income, pointing out that over the past three years, remittances from the Moroccan diaspora have reached record levels, exceeding all expectations. A total of 115 billion dirhams was transferred in 2023, compared with 110 billion dirhams in 2022, an increase of 4.1%.

He added that in the first nine months of 2024, transfers rose by 5.2% compared with the same period in 2023, reaching 91.5 billion dirhams.

In the wake of this positive trend, the Kingdom has also achieved unprecedented results in the services outsourcing sector, with an export volume that reached 18 billion dirhams in 2023, up 14% on 2022, he maintained, noting that these figures “have placed Morocco in second place in Africa in this field.”

According to Akhannouch, the new digital strategy should boost offshoring activities, which will contribute to improving service exports, the balance of services surplus and the level of coverage of goods and services, noting that the balance of services has generated a surplus amounting to 133 billion dirhams in 2023, compared with 116 billion dirhams in 2022, thanks to this performance.

As a result of this exceptional performance by all productive and service sectors, the level of coverage of goods and services has improved considerably, rising from 80.8% between January and September 2019, to a record rate of over 82.9% over the same period in the years 2023 and 2024, marking its best level since 2003, the head of government noted.

Akhannouch recalled that Morocco marked a “historic achievement” during 2023, reducing the current account deficit to a record 9 MMDH, or -0.6%, from a deficit of 43 billion dirhams (-3.4%) in 2019, noting that the current account deficit is currently at its lowest level since 2003.

The government's record of achievements in a complicated global environment has contributed significantly to the reduction of the budget deficit, the Head of Government asserted, noting that thanks to the exceptional performance of the productive sectors, imports marked an increase of over 12% at the end of 2023, which concretely reflects the impact of the structural reforms implemented by the Executive.

In addition, Akhannouch reported that the level of indebtedness had fallen since the start of the current mandate, to less than 70%, compared with 72% in the previous mandate, recalling that the level of indebtedness had increased by 20% between 2011 and 2020.

The government's positive track record and structural reforms have contributed to the improvement in Morocco's sovereign debt rating and the “positive” outlook associated with that rating, he noted, reaffirming the government's determination to work towards strengthening these indicators and upgrading the Kingdom's sovereign rating with the various international institutions.