Updated
Saudi King Gets New Neighbors as Morocco Evades Turmoil [Bloomberg]
Morocco’s economic growth shows progress based on a solid foundation, drawing in investors:
Beyond the walls of a palace outside Casablanca owned by Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, Moroccans are buying housing plots that one of the Middle East’s biggest construction firms will fold into a new mini city.
The $346 million plan by Jeddah-based Saudi Binladin Group will turn 250 hectares of former local-authority land into homes for 150,000 people, hospitals and an artificial lake. “The plots are selling like hot cakes,” Nahid Iraqi, a sales executive at Garan, the local affiliate of Saudi Binladin, said in a Sept. 27 interview. “We expect to close the sale this month.”
“Victoria City” is the latest bet on Morocco, where foreign investments into real estate, tourism and manufacturing seek to profit from a stable Arab state at a time of unprecedented regional turmoil. Renault SA, Europe’s third-largest carmaker, said this month it may build engines in Morocco, where it already has a plant in the coastal city of Tangier. The country’s credit risk has dropped this year while its benchmark stock index has climbed 11 percent, heading for its first annual gain since 2010…[Full Story]
.