Explainers - News around Africa - January 8, 2020

Morocco Will spend $12 billion for Water in 7 Years

January 8, 2020

2 min read

Morocco will spend $12 billion on water supply due to increasing demand between 2020 and 2027.

According to the State News Agency on Tuesday, January 7, the North African country will devote 115 billion dirhams which is equivalent to $12 billion.

In a report in August 2019 by the World Resources Institute, a watchdog of global resources, Morocco was ranked as the 22nd-most water-stressed country.

Due to the country’s semi-arid nature, farm income is volatile in semi-arid as the climate has led to droughts and summer flash floods in some areas. Also, water demand has surged in recent years especially in the north because of an expansion of urban centres and industrial activity.

The irrigation program which will span from 2020 to 2027, will include dam building, improving water consumption, preserving water resources and increasing supply in rural areas, the news agency said.

Thomson Reuters states that Morocco’s economic growth is expected to fall to 2.7% in 2019 from 3% in 2018 on the back of a lack of rainfall which caused a 49% drop in cereals output in 2019 compared with a year earlier, according to the central bank.