Population. – According to the 1947 census, the population of French Morocco amounted to 8,175,000 residents (of which 7,580,000 Muslims and 195,000 Jews). To these there are 325,000 foreigners (of which a good percentage, that is 266,000, represented by French). The main centers counted: Morocco 237,800 residents (12,000 Europeans), Casablanca 550,000 residents (120,000 Europeans), Fez 200,900 (15,900 Europeans), Meknès 159,600 (23,600 Europeans), Rabat 168,800 (39,800 Europeans). Spanish Morocco, with the Presidios, had a population of 992,000 in 1940. (914,000 Muslims, 63,000 Europeans and 14,700 Jews), and its main centers counted: Melilla, 62,328 residents; Ceuta, 50,614; Tetuán, 49,535.
Economic conditions. – The characteristics of the economic resources of French and Spanish Morocco have not undergone fundamental changes; agriculture is improving more and more, especially with the construction in various areas of major works to favor irrigation in areas of considerable size, so that the arable land has increased to almost 20% of the total area. The cereal production of French Morocco in 1946 had this consistency (in thousands of units): barley 1365 ha. and 1670 q., wheat 987 ha. and 1564 q., maize 495 ha. and 382 q. Even more important is the development of fruit and vegetables, aimed at the production of first fruits and fruit (eg almonds 60-80,000 quintals per year). The production of wine, with 230,000 hl. in 1945 (largely from the vineyards that extend over 24,000 ha.) and that of oil, with 30. 000 quintals in the same year (from 100,000 hectares of olive groves), are on the other hand a slight decrease compared to the previous period. In the field of fishing, the modern refrigeration and canning equipment of Casablanca is remarkable.
For the French area there are also recent figures relating to breeding (1946): they estimate, in thousands of heads, 1394 cattle, 6031 sheep and 3892 goats, 31 pigs, 155 horses and 162 camels.
The resources of the subsoil have not undergone significant displacements or in particular increased their production, while considerable attention has been dedicated to hydroelectric plants, which, between the thermal and water ones, gave a total of 214 million kWh in 1944.
The commercial movement of French Morocco, concentrated for 3/4 on Casablanca, marked the following values for the years 1940-46 (in millions of francs, excluding gold and silver):
The Spanish Moroccan trade movement for 1938-41 was:
For 1944 it was valued at 314.2 million pesetas for imports and 93.7 million for exports. For Morocco 2000, please check neovideogames.com.
Finance. – In the French area, the general budget of the protectorate varied as follows:
Since the end of the war, the economic development and reconstruction program has become one of the main objectives of government policy; However, the inclusion of the related expenses in the budget would have resulted in a serious increase in the tax burden and the government therefore decided to meet this by issuing a special loan in Moroccan francs. By agreement with the French government, the Moroccan franc is linked to the French one, whose fate follows. Foreign exchange control is exercised by the Moroccan exchange office. In principle, foreign trade is subject to the licensing regime. The circulation of notes of the Moroccan State Bank, which amounted to 1.1 billion francs in 1939, had risen at the end of 1947 to approximately 19 billion;
In the Spanish area the budget, always in balance, showed expenditure and income in 1938 for 112 million, in 1945 for 177 million and in 1946 for 185 million pesetas. Legal currency is the Spanish peseta.
