88 PERSPECTIVES ON BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS | VOL 42 | 2024 of OPCIs in the Moroccan context. As a modernization to the financial system, the instrument’s intention is to alleviate some of these issues the country has faced since the 1970s. In the 1980s, government officials pushed to remediate many of the issues with state-owned enterprises and trade deficits through adjustments to fiscal and monetary policies as well as a shift to focus resources on exports and savings mobilization. In the first half of the 1980s, this objective was meant to be achieved through a reduction in capital expenditure by the government aimed at achieving stabilized growth for the country moving forward. Unfortunately, social and environmental issues arising in 1981 stunted progress on this front and limited the government to merely conducting studies in preparation for the planned changes. The second half of the 1980s saw more tangible reforms, all aimed at improving the governmental budget. Ultimately, these reforms would produce mixed results for the 1980s, as can be observed in external debt peaking at 128.4% of GDP in 1985 and then falling to 90.5% by 1990 once reforms began taking place (Eken et al., 1995). Although external debt did increase since the 1970s, the actions in the latter half of the 1980s seemed to have had a positive impact overall. Continuing the reforms of the 1980s, the government also sought change in financial markets. A major component of the hardships faced by Morocco in the 1970s was constrained resources, largely due to limited bond and stock markets (Eken et al., 1995). In response, the 1990s saw a wave of innovation in the way capital markets were regulated in Morocco. Some of the notable changes in debt markets focused on removals of lending rate ceilings and a subsequent increase in the competitiveness of financing options through debt. As part of a greater effort to liberalize capital markets, the 1990s also saw the development of financial instruments known via the European Union as undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities. These financial instruments, similar to US mutual funds that embody different characteristics such as bond, stock, or money market portfolios, were a major step in the direction of bolstering financial inclusivity for individuals. Prior to the reforms, there was a strong preference by Moroccan households for keeping cash in savings or directly purchasing real estate (El M’Kaddem, 2013). As such, the goal of the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities funds was an attempt by governmental officials of the time to increase capital sources and build a diverse financial ecosystem for individual investors. These components of change would serve as precursors to the development of OPCIs in 2016. As Morocco and its new capital markets entered the twenty-first century, the country would continue innovating and diversifying its financial system. In addition to the introduction of OPCIs in 2016, the entire capital market governing structure would see a major revamp. The prior regulating body, known as the Conseil Déontologique des Valeurs Mobilières (Moroccan Securities Commission), transformed into the Autorité Marocaine du Marche des Capitaux (AMMC) (Moroccan Capital Market Authority). Along with a reinforced governing body came the need to provide more regulated collective investment instruments to investors desirous of more secure forms of mobilizing savings. From this drastic shift came the development of OPCIs. By pooling features from the undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities of the 1990s with the observed preferences toward real estate, markets could appeal to institutional investors and have a subsequent impact on individuals in the country (Moroccan Capital Market Authority, 2016). OPCIs offer investors the chance to partake in securitized real estate investments that are targeted at generating commercial rents. Their introduction had motivations rooted in a desire to bring about positive impacts for economic development. Authorities governing the development of OPCIs hoped that one of the main advantages of the new investment would include mobilizing savings of individuals such that preferences would shift toward the holding of OPCI funds. In doing so, a new source of financing could be opened to the real estate sector as pooled funding can generate greater amounts of capital for the development of land (Sabri et al., 2020). Another hope was that the current landscape of informal land developers and traders would be altered, giving rise to a more legitimate means of tracking revenues and collecting taxes on income earned from such sources of business (World Bank, 2022). The plan was that OPCIs would be another cornerstone in legitimizing Morocco’s financial system on the world stage, making the country competitive in the global arena (Sabri et al., 2020). The main goals of OPCIs can be grouped into three categories. The first involves opening individual access to real estate and financial markets, mobilizing savings for individuals in the country, and aiding institutional investors acting on behalf of individuals. The second focuses on governmental goals aimed at legitimizing Morocco’s financial markets, thereby attracting foreign investment. The third is the impact on developing and growing commercial real estate in the country. The longevity of such financial instruments
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