MARRAKECH - Morocco will give state aid to companies to set up industrial projects in remote regions as part of a plan to boost private investment in the economy, its investment minister said on Thursday.

Most of Morocco's public and private investment is concentrated in the northwestern area between Casablanca and Tangier, leaving vast swathes of the country to rely economically on agriculture and tourism.

Investment Minister Mohcen Jazouli said the government was seeking to increase the private sector's share of total investment in the economy to two thirds by 2035 from only one third now.

It will provide easier access to loans and cut administrative procedures, he said, and in more remote and poorer regions it will offer direct government aid.

Morocco has one of the highest public investment rates in the world, averaging 34% of gross domestic product since 2010, according to the World Bank.

Public investments, including Africa's and the Mediterranean's largest port in Tangier, the high speed train and the highway network, will help Morocco attract more private investments, Jazouli said.

He said the country was also looking to boost its attractiveness to low-carbon investments thanks to its energy strategy to increase the share of renewables to 52% of installed capacity by 2030 from 37% currently.

Automotive sector exports have overtaken phosphate exports from Morocco in the last few years as the country looks to attract more investments in the aeronautical and pharmaceutical sectors.

The 2022 budget has a record increase in public investment of 245 billion dirhams. But the government expects growth to be 1.7% this year from 7.3% last year after the worst drought in decades led to a drop in agricultural output.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi, editing by Ed Osmond)