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Morocco Allocates 15 Billion Dirhams to Combat Rising Oil and Commodity Prices
Monday 14 March 2022, by
Faced with exogenous shocks threatening its economy, Morocco has two alternatives: to readjust its investment budget or to reorder its priorities. Two solutions that are not, for the time being, on the agenda, as the measures taken still make it possible to cope with the situation, the government assures.
Speaking on MFM Radio, Fouzi Lekjaâ, the delegate minister in charge of the Budget, said that to mitigate the effects of the rise in oil and commodity prices, the government is now required to allocate a budget of 15 billion dirhams (MMDH), an amount not provided for in the 2022 Finance Act, reports.
To do this, the executive will have to make choices to meet the challenge of development, explained the minister. "The finance law gives the government two alternative solutions," he recalled. The first possibility being "to reduce investment spending by 14%, which would generate the 15 MMDH budget and thus finance the subsidies to cope with imported inflation," the second would be "to present a Supplementary Finance Act."
Two measures that the government will not resort to, the official said, noting that neither of them "would be quite adequate." The Executive still has "room for maneuver" to "meet the challenge" while preserving "macroeconomic balances," the priority today is "to continue the development trajectory."
According to him, "the government measures put in place as well as those planned" will make it possible to "maintain inflation rates at normal levels" and to "preserve investment rates," a "strategic" choice, since investment remains the engine and guarantor of development. Whatever happens, Morocco remains "ready to adapt to different scenarios" and "meet the challenges," he concluded.