Rabat – Morocco’s Special Commission for the Development Model (CSMD) unveiled its much-delayed 15-year economic plan on Wednesday, May 26. The chairman of the commission, Chakib Benmoussa, concluded the two year consultative process by presenting the council’s report to King Mohammed VI.
Benmoussa elaborated on Morocco’s new development model in a press conference in which he outlined the basic pillars on which the country’s planning for the future will rest.
People-oriented
The model presented appears to take a people-centered focus, calling for large-scale programs that aim to benefit and empower vulnerable people in Moroccan society and promote sustainable development across Morocco.
In his presentation to the press, Benmoussa highlighted the importance of empowering Moroccan women by increasing their participation in the workforce as well as both basic and higher education.
The report highlights that the position of Moroccan women “remains very weak, with two-thirds of students not proficient in reading at the end of primary school and a school dropout rate which remains very high.”
Morocco’s new development plan further aims to expand healthcare, highlighting that 38% of Moroccans have “no medical coverage,” leading to households paying for medical expenses.
The CSMD additionally paid specific attention to endemic poverty and inequality in Morocco, describing social protection as “still in its infancy.” The cost of private healthcare and education is a burden on the middle-class, while low social mobility and a lack of inclusion presents obstacles to the poorest in society.
Economic growth and development
The report published on Wednesday highlights that Morocco has long suffered from “the absence of a global and long-term strategic vision.” It laments that reforms have been implemented in isolation, without important benchmarks and with actors unsure of their roles and responsibilities. To remedy these issues, the government appears to have ambitious plans.
Morocco’s new development model is based on two years of consultations with various swaths of Moroccan society which, according to the CSMD’s report, expressed “a strong desire for empowerment.” It emphasized that healthcare, education, transportation as well as leisure and culture make up the primary concerns for policy-making in Morocco.
In order to address these challenges, Morocco’s new development model calls for a large increase in public spending, amounting to 4% of GDP until 2025. The next five years would see the government spend 10% of national GDP by 2030, after which it expects that growth in the private sector will help fund further development.
In the midst of a global health crisis, Morocco is aiming to increase its public spending — increasing its national debt as a result. The planned increase in public spending matches recommendations of the UN. Reminiscent of the US pre-World War II “New Deal” which lifted millions out of poverty, Morocco aims to use the crisis to raise living standards.
In order to finance such expenditure, Morocco’s new development model recommends eliminating unjustified tax exemptions and implementing a more efficient fiscal policy to ensure fair taxation. Doing so would turn tax-payers into clients of a government that “rediscovers its primary vocation of being at the service of the citizen,” the report stressed.
