Moroccan Government ‘Has Done Nothing’ to Protect Citizens’ Purchasing Power

Rabat – Secretary-General of the Progress and Socialism Party (PPS) Nabil Benabdellah has condemned the Moroccan government’s inaction in the face of rising prices and growing citizen dissatisfaction, saying that it has “done nothing” to protect the purchasing power of citizens in the last two and a half years.

While the government pledged to lift one million Moroccan families out of poverty, Benabdellah highlighted, the figures from the country’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) show the complete opposite.

A recent HCP study found that poverty and vulnerability affected an additional 3.2 million people across Morocco in 2022 due to the COVID-19 crisis and inflation.

Benabdellah made his remarks during the “Nouqta Ila Satr” program, which was broadcast on Moroccan public television channel Al Aoula TV on March 29.

Where other governments have taken measures to combat high inflation and moderate food price increases, Benabdellah argued, the Moroccan government has done nothing.

Instead, he added, Morocco’s government has used current global crises such as the war in Ukraine, drought, and rising inflation as an excuse for its failure to protect low-income Moroccans from incurring the costs of both the pandemic and the global energy and food crises.

‘Empty Promises’

Benabdellah emphasized that Akhannouch’s government failed to fulfill ten promises and commitments made to Moroccans, including the creation of one million jobs by 2026, the pledge to increase the country’s economic growth by 4%, and the vow to increase the employment rate of women from 20% to 30% in 2026, among others.

While the Moroccan government promised that the country’s economic growth would reach 4%, Benabdellah remarked, the growth rate recorded for 2022 stood at 1.3 %.

“The most optimistic forecasts for 2023 range between 2 and 2.2%, but I don’t think they can achieve it because of the current global crises,” he said.

The government’s “lack of ambition” will cost Morocco “MAD 475 billion in the next four years,” he argued, saying that the Moroccan economy saw the loss of 24,000 jobs in 2022

“They said that they plan to create 250,000 jobs per year until they reach one million by 2026,” he said. “If we continue at this rate, we will not only fail to create one million jobs, but we will also lose job positions.”

And while the government also pledged to increase the employment rate of women from 20% to 30% by 2026, however, the politician noted, the female employment rate has dropped from 17.4% to 16.4%.

The PPS joined the opposition when the new government (led by Aziz Akhannouch) took office.

Benabdellah explained the reasons for PPS’s decision, saying, “We left the government in October 2019, and when it was formed in 2021, we had already decided not to be part of it, because we knew that this government, given its leadership and composition, would not be able to address the current challenges.”

Echoing Benabdellah’s stance, Abdellah Bouanou, president of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) parliamentary group, recently criticized the government for its unresponsiveness amid soaring prices of basic goods.

Moroccans expressed concern over the noticeable increase in food product prices.

In February 2022, many Moroccans protested in several cities, including Tangier and Meknes, calling on the government to address the prohibitively high prices plaguing the country’s markets as well as social inequalities.

Minister of Economy Nadia Fettah Alaoui pledged to combat the ongoing rise in food prices and promised a gradual decrease as part of the measures announced to address the situation.