IMF Urges Morocco to Address Inequality and Boost Inclusive Growth

Already in 2013, the Board of Directors had made an urgent appeal to the Moroccan authorities, asking them to "redouble their efforts to promote higher and more supportive growth, in particular by creating jobs for young people and reducing inequalities in the distribution of income and access to health care and education," reports libe.ma.

These IMF recommendations will be reiterated in the following years, faced with Morocco’s silence.

Thus, the Bretton Woods institution, in its report published last March, asked the Moroccan authorities to initiate "reforms aimed at making growth higher and more inclusive in order to reduce social tensions". Also, the IMF reminded them that "despite a dynamic economy, unemployment has increased to 10.6% in the third quarter of 2017, compared to 10.4% a year earlier, and remains high among young people (29.3%), particularly in urban areas (45.2%)".

Similarly, an IMF mission visited the Kingdom between March and April last. It emerges from the discussions that "better targeting of social programs will be essential to improve their impact and reduce social inequalities".