Morocco tops the North African economic freedom ranking, according to the Heritage Institute index
In its 31st edition of the economic freedom list, the US-based Heritage Institute ranked Morocco as the freest country in the North African region.
By examining the economic and political conditions of 184 countries, the report concluded that the global economy has improved its freedom by 1.1 points, but remains largely ‘not free’.
The index uses 12 indicators, both qualitative and quantitative, to draw up the ranking. These, in turn, are divided into four main groups: size of government (public spending, tax burden and fiscal soundness); rule of law (government integrity, judicial efficiency and property rights); regulatory efficiency (business, labour and monetary freedom); and market openness (trade, investment and financial freedom).
Based on these parameters, the Heritage Foundation scores from 0 to 100, with the average of the 12 being the final score on the basis of which countries are ranked. There are five categories based on the score obtained: ‘free’ from 80 to 100 points; ‘practically free’ from 70 to 79.9; ‘moderately free’ from 60 to 69.9; ‘quite free’ from 50 to 59.9; ‘economically repressive’ from 0 to 49.9.
Many governments restrict the ability of citizens to interact freely. Since Donald Trump's arrival in the White House, tariffs have been the main topic of conversation in all economic negotiations. With an average of 7.7% tariffs on world trade, free trade has suffered since the 2023 report.
On the other hand, the average global tax burden, as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is now 19.8%. The average level of public spending remains at around 31% of GDP, but the average level of gross public debt is now over 65%.
Morocco the undisputed leader
Morocco obtained the best score in North Africa. With a score of 60.3 out of 100, the Alaouite country stands out as the seventh country on the African continent and the leader of the North African region. The North African country is the only one that entered the category of ‘moderately free’ and increased 3.5 points with respect to 2023.
Morocco's performance is due to its good records in terms of investment freedom (75 points), financial freedom (75), monetary freedom (74.4), fiscal pressure (71.4), business freedom (68.9), trade freedom (67.9), and public spending (67.2). However, in terms of labour freedom (48.5), budgetary soundness (46.2), government integrity (36.9) and judicial efficiency (32.5), the North African country did not obtain great results.
Economic freedom means much more than just a favourable business environment. The actions taken to attract investors, especially in the northern regions of the country, and the implementation of the New Investment Charter, have been the main drivers of the ratings obtaining a score in the range of ‘practically free’ and ‘moderately free’ in 8 of the 12 indicators.
Furthermore, Morocco is the only African country to feature in the Top 50 of the Global Soft Power Index and, together with South Africa, is the continent's leading exporter, particularly in the automotive sector.
Morocco's results compared to its neighbours are clear, being the only country to appear in the world Top 100. Far behind the Alaouite country is Mauritania in 119th place, Egypt in 145th place, Tunisia in 149th place and, finally, Algeria in 160th place out of 176.
Algeria maintains its ‘economic repression’
With only 16 countries behind it, Algeria, despite its rise in the ranking, is still classified as a country with an ‘economically repressive’ regime.
Although the country scored highly on the tax burden, monetary freedom and public spending indicators, in the rest of the parameters the results fall into the ‘economically repressive’ category.
Specifically, financial freedom and investment freedom were the worst rated with 20 points out of 100. In addition, judicial efficiency and property rights also received very poor scores.
