Rabat – The growth of domestic market demand in Morocco took a nosedive in the first quarter of 2022, dropping from 6.8% in the first quarter of 2021 to 0.7% in the same quarter this year.
Echoing the stagnation in domestic demand, household expenditures grew at an average of 1.1% in the first quarter of 2022, down from 6% in 2021’s first quarter, a recent report from Morocco’s Higher Commission of Planning (HCP), the country’s state-owned economic intelligence institution, reveals.
Concerning the national economy’s overall progress in the first quarter of 2022, HCP notes that the national economic growth has slowed to an average of 0.3%, compared to 2% the year before.
At the end of the first quarter in 2022, agriculture activities posted a 14.3% growth, against the 18.7% growth from last year, while non-agriculture economic activities grew at 2.5%, the report specifies.
Adding to the stagnating economic activities, prices maintained their upwards trajectory, growing at a 4% quarterly average in 2022, against a 1.7% average a year prior.
The HCP report reaffirms Morocco’s central bank’s predictions for inflation in 2022.
In March, Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), released data indicating that inflation is set to average an annual rate of 4.7% – – above the recommended average of 2%.
Rampant inflation is due to the lingering effects of the pandemic and their impact on the global supply chain, as well as the spillover from the Ukraine crisis, BAM argues.
In its quarterly report, the central bank stressed that inflation is not a national phenomenon, but rather a result of the current geopolitical tension in Eastern Europe and the pandemic’s economic aftermath.
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