Many investors looking to put their money into Africa envisage a divide between Arabic countries to the north and those south of the Sahara. The former are frequently viewed as having closer economic and cultural ties with the Middle East than the rest of Africa – hence the widespread use of the term MENA (Middle East and north Africa) among investment banks and their clients.
Morocco’s government wants to change this perception, which it insists does not reflect reality. It recently announced plans to establish a regional financial centre in Casablanca, which will, it hopes, link companies and investors to sub-Saharan Africa as well as countries such as Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. “We don’t agree with the expression ‘sub-Saharan Africa’; Africa begins in Tangier,” says Saïd Ibrahimi, head of Casablanca Finance City (CFC). “People think of north Africa as part of MENA. [In Morocco’s case] I don’t think it is [warranted] in terms of economics, exchanges, business and trade. Morocco is Africa. We feel we are much more African than we are Middle Eastern.
