A staggering 90% of Morocco’s trade documentation remains paper-based, according to Invest Africa’s recent “Tech Index 2024: Riding the Next Big Wave” report.
The reliance on paper places Morocco behind other African countries in adopting new technologies, according to the report. Digital banking and transactions are still failing to gain widespread traction while cash and traditional bank accounts continue to dominate, even among tech-savvy Moroccans.
Despite the slow shift to digital, Morocco has taken steps to modernize its administrative systems.
Morocco’s Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform has launched a project to fully digitize trade and finance documentation to streamline international trade. The upcoming system will allow businesses and traders to file essential documents like bills of lading to cut the time and costs tied to paperwork.
Mehdi Kettani, a Casablanca-based consultant, highlighted Morocco’s ambition to match global standards, noting parallels with digital initiatives in France and the UK.
“Morocco is committed to this mission,” Kettani said. “The Ministry of Digital Transition is on a path to completely digitize trade and finance documents, aligning us with other advanced jurisdictions.”
Morocco’s digitization efforts extend to the Ministry of Justice, which is developing digital frameworks to transform legal processes and document handling. Experts suggest that if these reforms succeed, they could set a standard for other African countries to adopt digital solutions across sectors.