Rabat – Morocco’s Finance Minister Nadia Fatah Alaoui said on Wednesday that the country’s plans for pension reform are a “strategic” endeavor, aiming to bring together different stakeholders to reach Morocco’s underserved population.
The minister chaired a meeting on Wednesday between government representatives and labor unions to deliberate on the best course of action to implement the pension reforms.
As part of a larger vision for social security reforms launched by King Mohammed VI in July of 2020, the reforms aim to expand the base of Moroccans with access to pensions through a wide range of measures.
While it was not the first time the monarch spoke of the need to expand social protection to all Moroccans, his 2020 speech carried a more decisive tone.
“All Moroccans should have access to social security within the coming five years,” he said in a speech delivered on the anniversary of his ascension to the throne.
Plans to expand the social safety net would include Moroccan artisanal workers such as farmers, craftspeople, and other independent private workers.
Soon after the king issued the instructions for expanding the country’s social safety net, the government started calling for workers in unregulated sectors to register in Morocco’s mandatory social security service CNSS to have access to healthcare coverage and pension among other social benefits.
In November 2021, Morocco’s government announced the establishment of a roadmap to include three million additional workers in the national social security fund CNSS.
The government said the workers can start benefiting from health coverage starting January 2022.
As of 2022, almost 32% of older women in Morocco and 23% of older men have no form of health coverage, according to a report from the country’s Higher Commission of Planning (HCP).
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