Rabat – Morocco’s Economic Monitoring Committee, created to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, is set to extend the financial aid given to workers in the informal sector, distributing stipends for the month of June.
The committee’s initial financial aid plans covered only three months—March, April, and May.
Applicants will now receive an additional stipend ranging from MAD 800 ($80) to MAD 1,200 ($120), depending on the size of their families.
Workers in the informal sector who still cannot resume their income-generating activity can apply for financial aid between 8 a.m. on Wednesday, July 15, and midnight on Friday, July 17.
Candidates can apply by sending their identity card numbers (CNIE) via SMS to the number 1212.
The SMS serves as a declaration that the applicant is the only member of their household to apply for the aid and that they were out of work in June due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
Applicants must send the message using the same telephone number they used in previous requests.
The distribution of stipends is set to begin on Saturday, July 18, and will follow the same procedure as the previous operations: Applicants receive an SMS when their allocation is ready with the name of the nearest bank or money transfer agency to receive the aid.
The Ministry of Economy, in collaboration with local authorities, will conduct various checks to verify the eligibility of the applicants to receive the aid. Any false declaration can lead the beneficiary to face legal prosecution, in addition to reimbursement obligations.
Moroccan authorities began studying the possibility of extending the financial aid in mid-June, after the end of the previous operations.
The decision to extend the timeline of aid distribution to cover the month of June — and possibly July — aims to support Morocco’s less fortunate households during the Eid al-Adha religious feast, expected to begin on July 31, and ahead of the 2020-2021 school year. The two events generally impose significant additional expenses on households.
The Moroccan government launched the financial aid program in early April through the online platform tadamoncovid.ma (COVID Solidarity), inviting all informal workers who lost their jobs due to the nationwide lockdown to apply.
Morocco’s Special Fund for the Management and Response to COVID-19 financed all the allocations.
The first operation to support informal workers and their families, covering the month of March, began on April 16. It covered 4.3 million households with a budget of nearly MAD 4.2 billion ($427 million).
The second operation, covering April, started on May 14 and the third operation, covering May, began one week later, on May 21.
