Most of the FDIs injected in Morocco came from the European Union with France, the major economic partner of the north African kingdom, topping the list with investments worth $1.86bln, followed by Spain ($783mln), the report said. The influx of European countries in Morocco's FDI represents 73.5% of the global amount received in 2007, according to the report which was presented by Souraya Ouali of the Direction of Investments.

19.3% of the investments came from Arab countries, whose share in Morocco's FDI showed a marked rise, as they only represented 9.9% of the entire FDIs in 2006. A number of Arab countries, mainly from the Persian Gulf are involved in large-scale projects in Morocco, including the giant Tanger Med port on the Mediterranean. Morocco remains the preferred destination of foreign investors in the Maghreb region (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia), with a total of $13.6mln between 2001 and 2007, which puts it largely on the top of the list.

n terms of sectors, tourism has the lion's share with $1.55bln, that is 33% of the total FDIs, followed by the real estate sector and the industrial sector, with respectively $930mln and $374mln. Moroccan expatriates' share of the FDI stood at $92mln in 2007, up from $57mln in 2006, and they touch mainly the sectors of real estate, tourism and catering, according to the report.