The recently published working paper by the OECD Development Centre, titled "Assessing the Impact of Investment in Africa through an Input-Output Framework: Evidence on Data Availability and Quality in 18 Countries," positions Morocco as a leading reference model and standard bearer on the African continent. This comprehensive report aims to review national statistical data sources and assess their readiness for analyzing investment impacts using the OECD’s International Input-Output (ICIO) framework.
Regional Leadership
The OECD, which consists of major industrialized and advanced nations, has confirmed that Morocco is one of the few African countries that "fully meets all the conditions and minimum requirements" necessary for inclusion in the International Input-Output Database (ICIO). Due to this high level of readiness, Morocco has been classified as one of the most dynamic candidates to participate in the initial and foundational phase of the Investment Impact Assessment Unit under the Africa Virtual Investment Platform (AVIP) initiative, a joint effort between the African Union Commission and the OECD aimed at enhancing transparency.
It is noteworthy that Morocco is already included in the latest version of the OECD’s International Input-Output Database (ICIO) for 2025, as well as in the Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database.
Statistical Evidence
The detailed review of Morocco's statistical data reveals a "clear superiority in the quality and accumulation of both historical and contemporary data" when compared to many other countries on the continent. The statistical indicators for Morocco, as outlined in the analytical tables of the same document, are based on various criteria. Firstly, they meet the "quality requirements," with the source recording that Morocco successfully fulfills 7 out of 7 mandatory statistical quality requirements set by the organization.
Moreover, the report highlights the "System of National Accounts (SNA)," emphasizing that Morocco has time series for national accounts based on both the 1993 SNA and the 2008 SNA, covering a long and continuous period from 1995 to 2023. In terms of supply and use tables, known among experts as (SUT/IOTs), the same report states that Morocco possesses "supply tables at basic prices (SUPbp) and use tables at purchaser prices (USEpu)" covering the period from 1998 to 2022 without interruption.
Concerning the coverage of economic sectors, Morocco offers a precise and structured industrial classification that aligns with the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC Rev.4), covering 20 different sectors and economic activities for the most recent statistical year, whether in measuring gross production (P1) or value added (VA). Regarding the "trade in goods data" indicator, the OECD indicates that the kingdom has a "complete and comprehensive trade database" for goods exchange spanning from 1995 to 2023.
Given that many supply chains extend across borders, the availability of this harmonized data in Morocco allows decision-makers and international partners to accurately measure the economic impacts of investments, understand their spread across various sectors, calculate the contribution of the services sector to manufactured exports, and assess their effects on labor markets and both local and foreign value added.
The report concludes that Morocco’s inclusion in these international databases, despite regional challenges related to data, makes it a strong and prominent candidate to lead preliminary working sessions dedicated to experience exchange and peer learning for statistical institutions in other African countries seeking to build their capacities and develop their own input-output tables. Overall, the state of readiness of economic data in Africa exhibits a "significant variance," with a group of seven countries (Morocco, Cameroon, Mauritius, Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia) emerging as the most dynamic and capable candidates for applying the input-output framework to analyze investment impact assessment due to their fulfillment of essential statistical requirements. This digital readiness enables these countries to "measure the distributional impacts of investments locally, track the services sector, and monitor cross-border linkages within regional and global value chains," providing decision-makers with an accurate tool for assessing the contribution of both local and foreign value added to economic growth.
Conversely, the document serves as a "diagnostic tool" shedding light on "existing gaps in statistical data" among other countries, providing a clear roadmap for enhancing their statistical capabilities through the Africa Virtual Investment Platform (AVIP) as part of key partnership efforts between the African Union Commission and the organization. The eleven countries already listed in the ICIO database, led by Morocco, form a foundational springboard for conducting dedicated workshops for mutual learning and peer experience sharing, paving the way for the gradual integration of other African nations once cooperation with national statistical institutions is strengthened and their supply and use tables and foreign trade accounts are developed.
As reported by hespress.com.
