Morocco Names Post-Islamist Cabinet as It Plans Economic Revamp
Morocco Names Post-Islamist Cabinet as It Plans Economic Revamp
(Bloomberg) -- Morocco’s new prime minister, Aziz Akhannouch, named his cabinet as the North African nation plans an ambitious economic revamp.
King Mohammed VI presided over a ceremony where members of the government were named, the state news agency MAP reported. They include Nadia Alaoui as minister of economy and finance, Abdellatif Loudiyi as defense minister and Leila Benali as minister of energy transition and sustainable development. Nasser Bourita remains as foreign minister.
The formation of a new government follows September elections in which Morocco’s long-dominant Islamist party saw a crushing defeat. Voters frustrated over unemployment and corruption instead backed pro-business candidates seen as close to the royal palace and the King.
A priority for the three-party coalition will be drafting a 2022 budget in line with the monarch’s National Pact for Development, which seeks to address structural economic weaknesses exposed by the pandemic, double gross domestic product per capita and transform Morocco into an emerging economy by 2030.
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