Moroccan Restaurant Industry Calls for Government Aid Amid Ongoing Crisis

In the letter addressed to Saad Eddine El Othmani, the head of government, Moulay Hafid Elalami, the Minister of Industry, Trade, Green and Digital Economy, the Economic Monitoring Committee (CVE), the CGEM, the Federation of Moroccan Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Services, the CMMB indicated the impacts of the health crisis on several sectors, including the event catering sector, which is not yet able to restart its activities, due to the restrictive measures imposed by the government.

In this sense, the confederation has urged the cessation of the procedures initiated against professionals who have not been able to honor their rental commitments during the period of application of preventive measures and to find a system to assume the rental charges between tenants, landlords and the State. The CMMB also wishes that companies that have closed due to the pandemic be exempted from patent fees, as well as a 50% reduction in utility fees during the lockdown.

It should be noted that 40% of restaurants nationwide have been forced to close or suspend their activities, while others were working under difficult conditions, in particular following the decision of the complete closure for 3 weeks without government intervention or assistance, while the sector has more than 100,000 professionals and companies of different sizes and specializations. In addition, the sector provides more than 1,200,000 direct jobs, having lost an average of more than 50% of their figures and having also suffered a debt ratio estimated at 50% by stopping their investment permanently.