Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Morocco aims to reclaim its emerging market status

By Pramod Kumar
The Casablanca Stock Exchange sees derivatives trading as key to reclaiming its emerging market status after 12 years Alamy via Reuters
The Casablanca Stock Exchange sees derivatives trading as key to reclaiming its emerging market status after 12 years
  • Derivatives trading is key
  • Fifa bid lifts trading volumes
  • Part of capital market reforms

Morocco’s stock exchange is set to introduce derivatives trading to reclaim its emerging market status after a 12-year wait.

Centrally cleared instruments, including interest rate and single stock futures, will attract a deeper pool of investors, Bloomberg reported quoting Casablanca Exchange CEO Tarik Senhaji.

He said the move will help local companies raise funding quickly and access a broader investor base.

Trading volumes on the local exchange have doubled over the past year. After Vietnam, the country holds the second-highest weighting in the MSCI frontier market index.

The benchmark stock index has risen about 13 percent since Fifa announced in October 2023 that Morocco will co-host the World Cup with Spain and Portugal.

Total market cap rose to $95.5 billion as of March 2025 from $64.6 billion at the end of 2023, Bloomberg said.

Capital market reforms began in 2021 as part of a 15-year economic plan launched by King Mohammed VI to double GDP per capita.

The return to emerging-market status may trigger significant investment inflows, the report added. 

Register now: It’s easy and free

AGBI registered members can access even more of our unique analysis and perspective on business and economics in the Middle East.

Why sign uP

  • Exclusive weekly email from our editor-in-chief
  • Personalised weekly emails for your preferred industry sectors
  • Read and download our insight packed white papers
  • Access to our mobile app
  • Prioritised access to live events
Register for free

I’ll register later

Latest articles

A Maersk container vessel in the Suez Canal in 2021. The company says it will return to the route when the safety of seafarers is guaranteed

Maersk expects Red Sea disruption throughout 2025

Danish shipping major Maersk expects the disruption in the Red Sea to continue throughout the rest of 2025. This week President Donald Trump said that the US will halt bombing the Houthis in Yemen after it agreed to stop attacking shipping lanes in the Middle East. Under the agreement, neither the US nor the Houthis […]

The Obelisk solar project, planned to be developed in two phases, is expected to be fully operational by the second half of 2026

Work starts on $590m hybrid solar power project in Egypt

Norwegian renewable energy producer Scatec has started constructing its $590 million first hybrid solar power and battery storage project in Egypt. The 1.1 gigawatt (GW) Obelisk solar project, located on the west bank of the Nile, will include 200 megawatt hours (MWh) of battery storage, Egypt Today newspaper reported. In September the company said that work […]

Dubai taxis and limousines completed nearly 13 million trips during the first quarter of 2025, up 8 percent year on year

Tourism and fleet expansion drive up Dubai Taxi revenue

Dubai Taxi Company, 75 percent-owned by state-backed Dubai Investment Fund, said revenues rose in the first quarter of 2025, supported by fleet expansion and tourism growth. The top line increased by 5 percent year on year to AED588 million ($160 million) in the first quarter. The taxi segment revenue increased 7 percent annually to AED515 […]

Emaar Development's backlog, which refers to future revenue from property sales, surged 52 percent year on year

Emaar Development project backlog hits $27bn

Emaar Development, the UAE-focused development arm of Emaar Properties, said backlog growth had crossed AED100 billion ($27 billion) by the end of the first quarter of 2025. The backlog, which refers to future revenue from property sales to be recognised in the coming years, surged 52 percent year on year, the developer said in a […]

Emirates Group which includes Emirates airline reported a record profit of $5.6 billion for the financial year ending March 2025; a 20 percent increase over the previous year

Emirates Group delivers record annual profit

Emirates Group, Dubai’s flagship aviation conglomerate, has posted record annual earnings on the back of a surge in international travel, rising cargo volumes and declining fuel costs. The state-owned group, which includes long-haul carrier Emirates airline and global airport services provider Dnata, reported a profit of AED20.5 billion ($5.6 billion) for the financial year ending […]

Donald Trump has made it clear he will not take kindly to any efforts 'to replace the mighty U.S. Dollar' as the default for international payments

Taking on the almighty dollar

There is much to discuss during President Trump’s visit to Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia next week. Oil and gas, investment into the US and tariffs, technology transfers and nuclear power, weapons sales and security guarantees, Yemen and Iran are all likely to feature. By way of welcome, Qatar has said that it will buy a fleet of […]

Abraj Energy Services is expanding its operations in Oman's growing energy landscape with the BP contract

Oman’s Abraj gets $36m BP gas drilling contract

BP Exploration has awarded Abraj Energy Services a $32 million contract to drill for gas in Oman’s Khazzan field, reinforcing the sultanate’s upstream ambitions amid continued investment in its energy sector. The three-year contract, disclosed in a filing to the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX), covers drilling operations on Block 61, a tight gas project in […]

HTX2YD A pair of local Omani men walk along Muttrah corniche in the evening, in Muscat, Oman

Oil profit fall at Oman’s OQ suggests bigger decline in Q2

Oman’s state-owned energy group OQ, which produces about a quarter of the country’s oil, reported a decline in first-quarter profit on the back of a fall in the price of crude. Net profit in the three months to March 31 fell 9 percent to $194 million over the same period last year, the company said […]

Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak said Mubadala's results reflected the fund's 'focused and resilient strategy, with risk-adjusted returns in sectors where we have conviction'

Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala reveals 34% rise in 2024 spending

Mubadala deployed AED119 billion ($32 billion) of capital last year, a rise of nearly 34 percent on 2023, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund has revealed in its latest earnings report.  The fund, which is thought to have been the world’s most active sovereign investor in 2024, has not released data on its annual revenues […]

A drilling rig at Jordan's Risha gas field. The field is estimated to contain 12 trillion cubic feet of gas reserves

Jordan plans drilling campaign to bolster gas supplies

Jordan’s state-owned National Petroleum Company (NPC) plans to drill 145 wells at the country’s Risha gas field through to 2030 to help reduce its reliance on imports, local newspapers reported. The company’s 2025-30 plan targets the production of 418 million cubic feet of gas, Jordan Times newspaper reported, citing NPC director-general Mohammed Khasawneh. It did […]

Jetour at a Chinese auto show. The Algeria factory will be based on the semi-knocked down model

Chinese carmaker Jetour to build assembly plant in Algeria

Chinese car company Jetour is planning to build a car assembly plant in Algeria, taking advantage of incentives offered to industrial projects. Earlier this week Jetour told AGBI that it is planning to start a manufacturing unit in Dubai as a springboard to supplying the UAE and the rest of the Gulf. Jetour will build […]

Children play on a swing in Baghdad's Sadr district. Shandong Construction Company will initially build 11,000 homes in the area

China’s Shandong wins contract to build Baghdad housing

China’s Shandong Construction Company has won a contract to build the first phase of a 60,000-home project in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.  The development will be in an area formerly known as Saddam City after late leader Saddam Hussein, the state Iraq news agency reported, but which was renamed Al-Sadr City. Shandong will build 11,000 […]