Diplomatic representation: Ambassador Ali BENGELLOUN; Chancery at 1601 21st Street NW, Washington DC 20009; telephone (202) 462-7979; there is a Moroccan Consulate General in New York; US—Ambassador Michael USSERY; Embassy at 2 Avenue de Marrakech, Rabat (mailing address is P. O. Box 120, Rabat, or APO New York 09284); telephone [212] (7) 622-65; there are US Consulates General in Casablanca and Tangier
Flag: red with a green pentacle (five-pointed, linear star) known as
Solomon's seal in the center of the flag; green is the traditional color of
Islam
- Economy Overview: After registering a robust 10% growth in 1988, the economy slowed in 1989 because of higher prices for food and oil imports, lower worker remittances, and a trade dispute with India over phosphoric acid prices that cost Rabat $500 million. To meet the foreign payments shortfall, Rabat has been drawing down foreign exchange reserves. Servicing the $22 billion foreign debt, high unemployment, and Morocco's vulnerability to external forces remain severe problems for the 1990s.
GDP: $21.9 billion, per capita $880 (1988); real growth rate 4.5% (1989 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6% (1989)
Unemployment rate: 15% (1988)
Budget: revenues $5.1 billion; expenditures $6.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.4 billion (1988)
Exports: $3.1 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities—food and beverages 30%, semiprocessed goods 23%, consumer goods 21%, phosphates 17%; partners—EC 58%, India 7%, Japan 5%, USSR 3%, US 2%
Imports: $5.1 billion (f.o.b., 1989); commodities—capital goods 24%, semiprocessed goods 22%, raw materials 16%, fuel and lubricants 16%, food and beverages 13%, consumer goods 10%; partners—EC 53%, US 11%, Canada 4%, Iraq 3%, USSR 3%, Japan 2%
External debt: $22.2 billion (1989)