Morocco’s Consumer Price Index Up by 1.4% in August

Rabat – Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) announced on Tuesday that the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 1.4% during the month of August compared to July.

The HCP notice said the overall increase was due to a 3.4% increase in the food index and a 0.1% increase in the non-food index.

The increases in food products between July and August concerned fruits, with 14.6%, vegetables, with 10.9%, fish and seafood (6.1%), meats (1.6%), and coffee, tea, and cocoa (0.4%).

Meanwhile, prices declined by 0.6% for mineral water, soft drinks, and fruit and vegetable juices, while prices for milk, cheese, and eggs dropped by 0.2%.

For non-food products, the increase concerned fuel prices (0.4%).

Morocco’s HCP recorded remarkable increases in the consumer price index in Beni Mellal, with 2.8%, Tetouan and Laayoune (2.2%), Errachidia (2.0%), and Kenitra and Al Hoceima (1.7%).

Increases in the CPI also occurred in Oujda, Settat, Agadir, and Marrakech, with 1.5%; in Meknes (1.4%); and in Fez, Tangier, and Safi (1.3%).

Compared to the same month in 2019, Morocco’s consumer price index recorded an increase of 0.9% in August 2020 due to the increase in the food index (1.4%) and of the non-food products index (0.4%).

For non-food products, the variations range from a decrease of 1.3% in “transport” to an increase of 3.1% in education.

The consumer price index measures changes in prices of goods over time.

The inflation indicator, which excludes products with volatile prices and products with public prices, would “have known an increase of 0.2% during the month of August 2020 compared to the month of July 2020 and 0.6% compared to August 2019.”