Moroccan Union Calls for Fuel Price Regulation Amid Rising Costs

The rise in fuel prices in Morocco is not due to the increase in international prices, the union says in a statement, explaining that this record increase is the consequence of the removal of subsidies from the compensation fund, the liberalization of prices, the increase in distributors’ profit margins (more than three times), the increase in refining margins and the tax burden (more than 3.5 dirhams for diesel and 4.8 dirhams for gasoline).

The national petroleum and gas union holds the Competition Council responsible for this situation, which it says has not played its role in this crisis. It accuses the institution of overstepping its prerogatives and deviating from its mission to ensure strict enforcement of the law on competition, freedom of prices and consumer protection.

According to the union, the increase in the profit margins of the players after the liberalization that took place at the end of 2015 is one of the causes of the rise in fuel prices. This situation has benefited fuel distributors who have achieved good sales figures. The figures from the 2018 parliamentary inquiry commission speak of 17 billion dirhams in profits. The union estimates these profits at nearly 80 billion dirhams by the end of 2024.

Faced with this price increase that affects consumers’ purchasing power, the union calls on the government to end liberalization and return to regulation. This solution also implies "the resumption of oil refining at the Samir refinery, the reduction of the tax burden, the unification of the tax between diesel and gasoline, and the creation of a National Agency for the Regulation of the entire energy sector in Morocco".