Rabat – After soaring to its highest level in over two decades in 2022 at 6.6%, Morocco’s core inflation dipped below the recommended 2% mark in March 2024, bringing the annualized rate to 2.4%.
According to the monthly update from the High Commission of Planning, core inflation – an index that tracks the change in prices while excluding commodities with highly volatile prices such as energy – rose by 0.3% in March 2024.
Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), an index tracking the average price of a basket of goods and services, rose by a month-on-month average of 0.7% triggered by a 1.7% hike in food prices and a 0.1% uptick in non-food products in March 2024.
The report explains that the monthly rise in food products is primarily due to an 11.6% rise in fish and seafood prices, 3.1% in fruit prices, and 2.5% in vegetable prices.
Other food products saw a less steep rise in prices with meat prices rising by a monthly average of 1.7%, and milk, cheese, and eggs by 1.4%.
The rise in CPI had a disproportionate effect across different cities. Al Hoceima saw the sharpest rise across the board at 1.5%, followed by Laayoune at 1.3%, Tangier and Safi at 1.2%, and Marrakech and Dakhla at 1.1%.
The observed slowdown in inflation growth is in line with projections from the HCP predicting that inflation will maintain a downward trajectory throughout 2024.
In a report released in July 2023, HCP forecasted that as external pressures will likely continue to ease throughout 2024, inflation in Morocco is likely to slide even further to an average of 2.3% in 2024, nearing the recommended 2% rate.
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