An interministerial committee is intensifying efforts to ensure food supplies will be available as usual as the COVID-19 crisis continues.
Rabat – The Moroccan Interministerial Committee in charge of monitoring supply, prices, and quality control operations reassured citizens that prices of food supplies have remained stable over the past week across the country, amid the COVID-19 crisis.
The committee met on Monday, March 30 to discuss the situation of supply markets during Morocco’s lockdown period, imposed to address the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The national market is “regularly supplied with various commodities,” the Department of General Affairs and Governance under the Ministry of Economy and Finance said in a statement.
The press release added that prices have remained stable for all goods, except for legumes.
The prices of some vegetables dropped between 3% and 8% over the past week.
The committee acknowledged increases in pulse prices ranging from 3% for chickpeas to 8% for dry beans.
The government suspended customs duties on dry beans, lentils, chickpeas, and hard wheat as of April 1, and extended the suspension of import duties on soft wheat until June 15, rather than April 30, the committee’s statement explained.
The measures align with national procedures to ease pressure on citizens, especially on the eve of the holy month of Ramadan. Historically, the demand for dry beans increases during Ramadan.
Morocco is expected to celebrate the first day of Ramadan on April 25, just five days after the end of its lockdown.
The interministerial committee vowed to continue to hold regular meetings to monitor market supply and price trends.
The committee said it detected 768 infringements in terms of the prices and quality of food products between March 1 and March 29.
The committee monitors the prices and quality of products at 30,000 wholesale and retail outlets and storage warehouses across the country.
