"As governments adopt pandemic-preparedness strategies for the future, the global demand for medical products will be sustained at least in the medium-term, creating new opportunities for manufacturing firms in countries such as Morocco," said, in an interview with MAP Washington, the specialist in development economics and international finance, who has served more than 35 years at the World Bank.

“Simple medical gear including facemasks, gloves, gowns, and simple medical equipment are being made in Morocco. In order to survive the economic downturn, many SMEs are taking advantage of the severe shortage of these products by adjusting their factory production lines and retraining their workforce to produce simple medical products for local hospitals. Light manufacturing firms in Morocco have been doing this and should be encouraged to do so in the short term,” he stressed.

In the longer run, as awareness grows of the hazards of over-dependence on China for all manufactured products (from medical supplies and ventilators to iPhones), buyers and investors around the world will seek production locations outside China, noted this researcher at Indiana University in the United States, who has extensive expertise in macroeconomic and structural policies.

 Referring to Morocco's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the US expert described it as "decisive", noting the "strong" measures taken by the authorities combined with efforts to raise public awareness.

“Morocco in a favorable position compared to many in the region and the world. Both the Moroccan people and the government so far appear to be doing the best they can to flatten the coronavirus curve and to rise to the difficult challenges ahead,” he stressed.

But the costs of the pandemic to the economy have been large, noted the PCNS expert. “As an energy importer, Morocco has benefited from low energy prices, but remittances, tourism, transportation and hospitality services are all suffering as a result of global restrictions and weaknesses in supply chains,” he said.

The economist, author of several publications on industrialization, fiscal management and economic development in Africa, also noted that HM King Mohammed VI's African solidarity initiative is "both timely and critical" to confront the current unprecedented health crisis.

“The initiative calls for a unified and concerted response to COVID-19 pandemic in Africa and for facilitating joint action by African countries. It enables the sharing of experiences and best practices to address the health, economic and social impact of the pandemic,” he underlined.

Asked about his projections for exiting the crisis, Dinh said that current scenarios of financial institutions such as the IMF assume that the pandemic will disappear in the second half of 2020 and therefore full economic activities will resume by the beginning of 2021.

“In my view, this can only happen if a vaccine for Covid-19 can be found, tested, and made available for everyone by the end of 2020,” he said, noting that the complexities and the risks associated with relaxing social distancing in the absence of a vaccine mean that at best, economic activities can be resumed gradually and it would take at least another year (i.e., mid-2021) before everything returns to normalcy.

The longer the crisis lasts, the more costly will be the damages, and we may never get back to a “normal” state unless a vaccine is found and is available for everyone, the international expert insisted.