Rabat – Prices of basic food commodities should stabilize in the coming days, a trend that coincides with the advent of the blessed month of Ramadan, Morocco’s Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fettah Alaoui said on Tuesday.
Speaking at the parliamentary session dedicated to evaluating the rise in food prices in Morocco, Fettah Alaoui noted that the rise in certain types of food products is due to adverse weather conditions, adding that prices should ‘stabilize or drop’ as supply increases over the coming days.
The minister recalled the alarming rise in prices of tomatoes, explaining that the weather in recent weeks caused supplies to drop, which resulted in high prices. However, markets are currently well supplied, which would lead to the easing of price pressures, the minister explained.
She further added that during Ramadan, food prices should maintain the same or even drop below the prices from the same period last year.
While addressing the assembly, the ministry said that the government continues to take measures to mitigate the rise in prices of certain commodities.
In 2022, food commodities in Morocco rose at an alarming rate. The inflation of food costs rose to 8.9%, above the 6.6% average of all other commodities and services.
Last year, drought caused Morocco’s agriculture yield to plummet, with grains yield – a staple to the Moroccan diet – dropping by 70%, deepening Morocco’s dependency on food imports. The trend coincided with the onset of the geopolitical tension in eastern Europe that caused food prices to skyrocket, as supply chains were disrupted.
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