At the beggining of April, the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Department of Economic Studies and Financial Forecast published a report entitled “Creative Economy: Economic and Patrimonial Opportunities”, the goal of which was to highlight the important role that the creative economy plays, emphasising the contributions it has made to boosting growth, creating jobs, territorial inclusion and the exchange of goods and services.

First and foremost, the study showed that creative industries employ a permanent workforce of almost 40,000 people, and that Moroccan industrial establishments operating in fields that contribute to the creative economy achieved a turnover of 17.2 billion dirhams. The creative industry’s revenue has grown by an average of 4.3% since 2000.

The report also revealed that Moroccan creative goods exports earned US $250 million in 2012, or an average annual growth of 5.9% since 2003. 87% of exports are sent to Europe, 6% to Africa, 3% to the Americas and 3% to Asia. Importsrepresent a total of US $788 million, or a growth of 9.5%, with 63% coming from Europe, 1% from Africa, 2% from the Americas and 33% from Asia. 88% of exports concern creation and design (with interior design representing 45% and fashion representing 41% of this figure), compared to 57% for imports.

Moroccan creative services exports generated US $198 million in 2011, as against US $48 million generated through imports. 81% of these exports are related to publicity, market studies and opinion surveys, while 19% is related to staffing, cultural and leisure services (16% of which relates to audiovisual services), as against 37%, 63% and 59% for imports, respectively.

Moroccan exportation of creative activity-related services reached US $378.5 million in 2011 (97% of which is in IT services and 3% in communication services), as against US $73.4 million in imports (82% of which is in IT services and 18% in communication services). Royalties and licensing fees have slumped since 2003 (down by an average of 25.3% annually), hitting a low of US $1.9 million in 2012 in terms of exportation, while imports, on the other hand, grew by 7.7% per annum, reaching US $56.2 million in 2012.

In conclusion, Morocco has already increased its growth rate with respect to the creative economy, but it still has the scope to make significant progress in this field, which was highlighted in the report.

The document was put together in accordance with the definition set out at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which separates goods and services using strict parameters linked to other creative activities. According to this body, there are several groups of creative economical products: craft, audiovisual, creation/design, new media, theatrical arts, editing/publication and visual arts.

http://www.medculture.eu/information/news/how-much-moroccan-creative-economy-market-worth