Unemployment Rise Tempers Growth Outlook

Recent data reveals a sharp rise in unemployment in Q3 in Morocco. Although broadly stable on a y-o-y basis, there has been a quick reversal of the drop in jobless numbers recorded in Q2. Most notably, rural unemployment has returned to long-term trend levels, suggesting that the Q2 drop was driven purely by the demands of this year's bumper harvest, which is now over. The figures add weight to our decision keep our 2009 real GDP growth forecast on hold at 4.6%, despite a recent study by the Haut Commissariat au Plan (HCP), which estimated that growth had accelerated in

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