Rabat – The Moroccan Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 0.5 percent in May due to a rise in food products, particularly vegetables, says the High Commission of Planning (HCP).
The prices increased most from vegetables (5.6 percent) and fruits, fish and seafood (3.4 percent). By contrast, prices decreased by 0.6 percent for coffee, tea and cocoa, according to the HCP.
This 0.5 percent increase in food products was the result of simultaneous 1.3 percent growth in the food products index and stagnation in non-consumable goods.
Vegetables head the list of increased food products, notes the HCP, with a 5.6 percent increase, followed by fruits, fish and seafood by 3.4 percent. By contrast, prices decreased by 0.6 percent for coffee, tea and cocoa.
The CPI registered the most important increases as occurring in the city of Safi (1.3 percent), Oujda (1 percent), Fez (0.8 percent), Tetouan and Rabat (0.7 percent each). Guelmim registered the lowest increase of 0.1 percent.
The index increased at a lower rate of 0.3 percent in May 2016.
In the month before Ramadan, products with the largest increases were water and soft drinks (59 percent), fruit juice (42.3 percent) and oil (26.5 percent), while the imports of honey “more than doubled.” By contrast, purchases of alcohol dropped by 54 percent in the lead up to the holy month.
