Rabat, Aug 27, 2012 (AFP)
Rabat, Aug 27, 2012 (AFP)
Morocco’s economic crisis saw consumer confidence, a key engine of growth for the kingdom, fall for third straight quarter during three months to June, the state planning commission said in a report published Monday.
“During the second quarter of 2012, consumer confidence continued a downward trend that began in the fourth quarter of 2011, recording its third consecutive fall,” Morocco’s planning commission (HCP) said in its study.
Between April and June, the consumer confidence index fell 5.1 points compared with the same period in 2011, and 2.2 points compared with the first three months of this year, the report noted.
A majority of households expected food prices to continue rising over the next 12 months, alongside a decline in the standard of living, according to the study.
Due to the precarious financial situation, 57.9 percent of Moroccans said they were forced to curtail their expenses, 36.6 percent said they were accumulating debt or dipping into their savings and only 5.5 percent said they were saving.
After a decade of prosperity, Morocco is suffering the knock-on effects of the debt crisis in Europe, its largest trade partner, cutting growth forecasts amid price rises and simmering social discontent.
The International Monetary Fund announced early in August that it was opening a “precautionary” $6.2 billion line of credit for the kingdom to protect the economy from external shocks.
