World Bank data highlight gains in Morocco’s government effectiveness

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Morocco has recorded an improvement in government effectiveness over the period covered by the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), with the latest figures cited in the 2025 edition pointing to a gradual rise in the country’s position on this dimension of governance.

The government effectiveness indicator reached a percentile rank of 55.96 out of 100, alongside a positive governance estimate of +0.18. The figure marks an increase of 4.24 points compared with the 51.72 recorded in 2020, according to the data presented.

The progression unfolded over several years, including the period since 2021, when the government led by Aziz Akhannouch took office. The chronology places the improvement within the current government’s tenure, although the World Bank indicators themselves do not establish a direct causal relationship between the rise in the score and the policies implemented by the government.

A gradual rise in the government effectiveness measure

Government effectiveness is one of six dimensions assessed by the WGI. It reflects perceptions concerning the quality of public services, the civil service, policy formulation and implementation, and the credibility of government decisions.

For Morocco, the movement from 51.72 in 2020 to 55.96 in the cited edition represents a sustained upward trajectory rather than a single-year change. The evolution has taken place against a challenging economic and environmental backdrop, including recurring drought, inflationary pressures and higher energy and essential-goods costs.

During the same period, the government pursued a range of public programmes, development projects and social initiatives. The governance data provide a comparative indicator of how these institutional and policy dimensions are perceived, but they do not by themselves measure the individual impact of each programme.

Other governance dimensions also show measurable scores

The World Bank’s framework extends beyond government effectiveness. It assesses six broad areas: voice and accountability, political stability, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption. The indicators are constructed from multiple international sources, including household and business surveys as well as expert assessments.

In the figures cited for Morocco, regulatory quality recorded a percentile rank of 55.19. This dimension concerns perceptions of the authorities’ capacity to formulate and implement policies and regulations that support private-sector development.

The political stability and absence of violence indicator stood at 56.10, while the rule of law measure reached 53.01 in the same set of figures.

Taken together, these indicators offer a multidimensional picture of Morocco’s institutional environment, covering areas that range from administrative performance and regulation to political stability and adherence to legal frameworks.

Why the figures require careful interpretation

The WGI are designed primarily to facilitate comparisons across countries and over time. They are not intended to serve as a comprehensive scorecard for an individual government.

The World Bank stresses that the indicators are based on perceptions and should therefore be understood as estimates rather than definitive measurements of government performance. Changes in source data, data availability and perceptions can also influence results, while perceptions may not immediately reflect reforms that have already been implemented.

The 2025 revision also introduced methodological changes and recalculated historical estimates to maintain consistency across the time series. The World Bank’s dataset covers more than 200 economies and draws on 35 cross-country data sources.

For Morocco, the upward movement in government effectiveness is therefore best viewed as one element of a broader governance picture. It provides evidence of a change in the perception-based indicator, while leaving the assessment of individual government policies and their concrete effects to other economic, social and institutional measures.

Morocco’s governance trajectory in perspective

The figures point to a notable change in Morocco’s government effectiveness indicator over the five-year period beginning in 2020. The increase coincides with the tenure of the Akhannouch government from 2021 onward, but the available WGI data do not, on their own, attribute the change to a specific administration or policy.

The broader significance of the results lies in the combination of several governance dimensions. Regulatory quality, political stability, rule of law and government effectiveness each capture different aspects of the relationship between institutions, public administration and economic and social activity.

As Morocco continues to implement development and social programmes while facing economic and climate-related pressures, these indicators provide one external reference point for following the country’s institutional trajectory. They are most informative when considered alongside other measures of public-service delivery, economic performance, institutional reform and social outcomes.