Doha – Nizar Baraka, Secretary General of the Istiqlal Party and Minister of Equipment and Water, acknowledged the government’s failure to meet its major commitment of creating one million jobs by 2026.
“It’s over, we cannot create one million jobs by 2026. We tell the truth to Moroccans,” Baraka declared Saturday during his party’s national council meeting in Salé.
Despite this admission, Baraka pointed to positive employment trends in early 2025. The first quarter saw the creation of 180,000 net jobs, compared to a loss of 80,000 positions during the same period last year.
Baraka attributed this improvement to increased public investment, which reached MAD 340 billion ($34 billion) this year, up from MAD 220 billion ($22 billion) in 2020. His ministry’s investment budget alone jumped from MAD 40 billion ($4 billion) to MAD 70 billion ($7 billion).
Addressing price increases, Baraka condemned what he called “inflationary greed” among some traders and speculators.
“We face non-citizen behaviors from people who have exploited the inflationary context to raise commercial margins and make excessive profits at the expense of citizens… and this, we will not accept,” he asserted.
The minister called for maintaining unity within the government coalition. He warned that premature competition for first place in upcoming elections could harm government performance and citizens’ interests.
The Akhannouch government’s term has been marked more by job losses than gains. According to the High Commission for Planning (HCP), 432,000 jobs were lost during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, while 230,000 were created in 2021.
The Moroccan economy lost 24,000 jobs in 2022 and destroyed 157,000 positions in 2023.
In January, Baraka had painted a concerning picture of Morocco’s employment situation. He cited youth unemployment at 39.5%, overall unemployment at 21.3%, and women’s unemployment at 29.6%.
“Our country’s youth have objective and legitimate reasons to feel anxious about the future and fears about uncertainty,” Baraka stated during a national event commemorating the 81st anniversary of Morocco’s Independence Manifesto.
