Rabat – Moroccan families are likely to face hard times at the beginning of this coming school year as the cost of school supplies’ will increase by 30 percent, according to Al Massae newspaper in its Saturday edition.
The rise is reportedly due to the decision of Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Morocco’s Minister of Industry, Trade and New Technologies, to impose a 25 percent estimated increase on paper import tax fees.
Book publishing industry professionals are wary about the increase which they believe is ‘’inevitable’’ given that the Minister anticipates imports of printing and raw materials and paper used in textbooks, notebooks and envelopes rising.
The increase will affect families costs for their children’s school expenses at the beginning of the new school year which coincides with Eid al-Adha, a religious feast when Muslims must also buy sheep.
The paper price increase is expected to weaken the purchasing power of Moroccans and further hinder poor families from sending their children to school.
