Rabat – Nizar Baraka, former head of Morocco’s Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE), said on Wednesday that the pandemic provides an opportunity to implement a new development model that will ensure that the country’s economic recovery serves Moroccan citizens.
In a seminar organized at the Polydisciplinary Faculty of Larache, near Tangier, Baraka emphasized the importance of making strategic choices following King Mohammed VI’s instructions in order to elevate Morocco’s post-pandemic economy and help devise an effective development model.
The seminar focused on the theme: “Post-covid-19 economic recovery.”
Criticizing the proposals that describe the crisis as “passing,” Baraka, secretary general of Al Istiqlal (Independence) Party and a former minister, called for an economic model based on different policies.
The official does not believe that the country should base the model on previous strategies.
Instead, Morocco’s new model should work to accelerate the pace of economic recovery and growth, lower social inequalities and regional disparities, and ensure economic sustainability, he said.
The MP listed some axes that the economic model needs to work around in order to overcome the impact of the crisis and boost the national economy.
These axes include creating innovative economic mechanisms in areas such as health economics, renewable energy, and digitalization; improving individuals’ purchasing power, reducing social inequalities; and centering the citizen in public policies.
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The Istiqlal Party affiliate added that encouraging the production and consumption of local products and adopting a proactive approach for economic governance should be central considerations of any economic recovery model.
The development model that Morocco’s government proposed in 2019, and King Mohammed VI’s instructions regarding economic recovery, are shaping prospects for a rapid recovery.
In an article published in January, Jeune Afrique argued that Morocco can expect a “rapid return” of growth at a rate of 4.9% for 2021, as well as a reduction of the budget deficit from 7.5% to 6.5%.
In his 2019 speech marking the 66th anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People, King Mohammed VI specified the main points in Morocco’s new development model, which were meant to be the driving force of inclusive growth, social equity, and other aspects of sustainable development.
The King expressed his dissatisfaction with the development model the government previously implemented, and established the Special Commission for the Development Model (CSMD) in charge of advising on the country’s development trajectory to effectively meet Moroccans’ needs.
