Rabat – Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) forecasts the country’s budget deficit to remain stable at 6.1% of GDP in its 2022 Forecast Economic Budget (BEP), Morocco’s Press Agency (MAP) reported.
“Fiscal policy in 2022 should remain oriented in favor of supporting the national economy by maintaining a budget deficit of nearly 6.1% of GDP,” HCP noted in the report.
With a predicted increase in payroll expenses (12.1% of GDP) and goods and services expenditures (5.6% of GDP), HCP anticipates investment expenditure to teach 7.2% of Morocco’s GDP, MAP stated.
The commission also noted the economic activity recovery and growth in tax revenue (18.5% of GDP) would lead to the recovery of public savings in 2022. Yet, it stressed the need to increase domestic consumption tax (TIC) and import taxes for particular goods to support the economic recovery.
In 2022, corporate tax revenues are expected to return to their pre-COVID-19 crisis growth rate while income tax and value-added tax revenues will benefit from an increase in demand, HCP said.
Predicting an increase in the debt-GDP ratio (78.5% of GDP), the commission advised the treasury to resort to domestic and external borrowing.
While Morocco’s external debt is anticipated to stabilize at 14.7 % of GDP in 2022, HCP expects a rise in the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio from 90.3% in 2021 to 93.2% in 2022.
Earlier this month, HCP reported a potential 2.8% economic growth for Morocco in the first quarter of 2022.
While the COVID-19 crisis hit the Moroccan economy and its different sectors such as tourism, HCP, World Bank, and UNESCWA predict a positive economic recovery in 2022.
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