By Mohamed Hikal
Rabat – An OXFAM report has ranked Morocco 98th among 157 countries in the Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index issued this month.
Along with Development Finance International (DFI), OXFAM developed the index to measure government commitment to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.
The CRI index is based on three indicators: Social spending, tax law, and labor rights.
Reducing inequality comes under the 10th sustainable development goal. The report asserts, “Without reducing inequality, meeting SDG 1 to eliminate poverty will be impossible.”
Morocco ranked 112th in spending with a score of 0.179, 78th in taxation policies with 0.531, and 101st in labor rights and wages with 0.337.
In 2017, the first year OXFAM produced the index, Morocco ranked 103rd. It ranked 99th in social spending, 140th in taxation policies, and 50th in labor market policies.
In the 2018 report, Denmark, Germany, and Finland were ranked in the top three while Haiti, Uzbekistan, and Nigeria were the bottom three.
In sub-Saharan Africa, where “the gap between rich and poor is greater than in any other region of the world apart from Latin America,” South Africa came first. It ranked second in social spending, first in taxation policies, and seventh in labor rights.
Tunisia ranked highest of the 11 Middle East and North Africa countries included. It came first in social spending and second in taxation policies and labor rights. Morocco ranked 6th in MENA.
Many countries in the MENA region were not included due to the unavailability of data on government policies.
No Arab or African country appeared among the high-income countries that had introduced progressive taxation, strong welfare conditions, and safety for their workers.
