Rabat – The liberalization of the hydrocarbon sector initiated by the Benkirane government has led to a substantial increase in the margins of hydrocarbon distributors in Morocco, according Lahcen Daoudi, the Minister in charge of General Affairs and Governance.
Speaking before the House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 6, Daoudi stated that since the liberalization of the hydrocarbons sector, operators have revised their margins upwards. Some of them even doubled their profits from one year to the next.
Responding to a question on the change in the price structure of hydrocarbons, the Minister pointed out that what has really changed since the liberalization of this sector is the margin levels applied by the operators.
“It is indeed inconceivable that an operator doubles their profits from one year to another by taking advantage of liberalization,” Daoudi said. However, he insisted that the widespread rise in margins should in no way be interpreted as a price agreement between the various players.
Trying to reassure consumers, Daoudi said that his ministry is currently conducting work with all distributors to review their margins down “so that the consumer no longer pays the price of liberalization to distributors.”
The subject had been raised in Parliament earlier by Omar Balafrej of the Federation of the Democratic Left, who on May 24 addressed a letter to Abdellah Bouanou, chairman of the Finance Committee, asking him to set up a fact-finding mission on the sector of hydrocarbons. The request has not yet received a response from the chairman of the commission.
