HCP: Inflation in Morocco Increased by 2.3% in January 2024

Fez – Morocco’s High Commission for Planning (HCP) has revealed that the country’s consumer price index (CPI) saw an increase of 2.3% in January 2024, compared to the same period from last year.

This increase was due to a 4.2% rise in the index for food products and a 0.8% rise in the index for non-food products, said the HCP monthly report.

The report also indicated that the CPI fell by 0.6% last January compared to the previous month, arguing that this drop was linked to a 0.9% decline in the food products index and a 0.3% drop in the non-food products index.

Food prices were mainly driven down by vegetables, which saw a drop of 9.6%. Conversely, prices increased by 4.7% for fish and seafood, by 0.6% for fruits, by 0.4% for coffee, tea and cocoa and by 0.3% for meats.

As for non-food products, the drop in prices mainly benefited pharmaceutical products with 4.9% and fuels with 2.4%.

In terms of geographical distribution, the largest drops in the CPI were recorded in Oujda with 1%, in Casablanca with 0.8%, in Kenitra and Beni Mellal with 0.7%, in Agadir, Meknes, Guelmim and Al Hoceima with 0.6%, in Rabat and Tangier with 0.5%, in Marrakech, Dakhla and Errachidia with 0.4% and in Tetouan with 0.3%. Meanwhile, the Laayoune region saw a 0.3% increase.

Additionally, the underlying inflation indicator—which does not include products with fluctuating prices—showed a 2.9% increase in January 2023 compared to December 2023 and a 0.3% increase in January 2024 compared to December 2023 in the CPI.

The average inflation rate in Morocco was forecast to continuously decrease between 2023 and 2028 by 4.2 points, with a rate estimated to amount to 2.11 percent in 2028.

The country’s economic growth is slightly lower than North Africa’s 3.9% average in 2024.

Despite encouraging economic development, Morocco’s socioeconomic outlook remains largely bleak due to persistently high unemployment and inflation rates..

At the end of 2023, the country’s unemployment reached an all-time high level as drought-stricken agriculture lost 157,000 jobs. While this massive exodus was partially offset by the creation of 5,000 jobs in urban areas, the overall unemployment rate rose to a staggering 13%.