Morocco tops African industrial rankings as 2025 GDP growth accelerates

Morocco is having a moment in the sun: Morocco’s economy grew at a 4.9% clip in 2025, accelerating from 4.4% the year before, according to data from the country’sHigh Commission for Planning.

A rebound in agriculture did much of the heavy lifting, growing 7.1% after contracting 5.1% in 2024, with agricultural value added rising 8.2% in 2025. That figure had dropped 5.7% the previous year. Investment was the other standout, with gross investment rising 16.3% — 2.4 percentage points higher than 2024. On the downside, Morocco’s trade balance weighed on growth, with import growth (+9.0%) outpacing exports (+6.6%).

Beyond the headline growth, Morocco’s industrial horsepower drew its own recognition. Morocco overtook South Africa to become the highest-ranked industrial economy in Africa for the first time on record, according to the African Development Bank’s Industrialization Index for 2025 (pdf). The bank credited sustained industrial upgrading, export diversification, and “effective implementation of strategic industrial policy.”

The reversal is as much about Pretoria as it is about Rabat: South Africa, still described as a “continental industrial powerhouse,” continues a long, gradual slide in industrial competitiveness. The two countries lead a small group of North African frontrunners, alongside Egypt and Tunisia, that the report says continue to outperform their peers by a wide margin.

The industrial success story shows in the data: Morocco’s automotive sector — now the country’s leading export category — generated MAD 58.28 bn (USD 6.3 bn) in export revenues in the first four months of 2026, rising 18.6% y-o-y. Car assembly was the fastest-growing segment, with exports growing 33.5% y-o-y to MAD 23.9 bn (USD 2.6 bn), while the wiring harness segment rose 16.1% y-o-y. The gains weren’t universal across the sector — textiles and leather, electronics, and phosphate derivatives all slipped over the period.