Morocco’s Budget Deficit Soars to 42.8 Billion Dirhams Amid Covid-19 Crisis

The statement of Treasury income and expenditure published by the Ministry of Finance shows that ordinary revenue amounted to 166.3 billion dirhams by the end of September.

Regarding direct tax revenue, it is down 2.5% compared to 10.3% for indirect taxes. As for customs duties, revenue fell by 6.1% while that of registration and stamp duties fell by 20%.

With these figures, the minister notes a slowdown in the decline in tax revenue since June, the date of the partial lifting of confinement and the gradual resumption of economic activity. As for expenditure, it increased by 9.3 billion dirhams (+5.6%) compared to the same period in 2019 and stood at more than 175 billion dirhams. As for personnel expenditure, it amounted to nearly 99 billion dirhams, (+6.5%) against a decline in investment expenditure (6.7%), i.e. 43.8 billion dirhams by the end of September.

Thanks to the surplus of nearly 8 billion dirhams from the special Covid-19 fund, the budget deficit stood at 42.8 billion dirhams, compared to 28.5 billion dirhams in 2019, an increase of 14.3 billion dirhams. Excluding this surplus from the Covid-19 Fund, the deficit stands at nearly 50.8 billion dirhams, or nearly 22.3 billion dirhams more than the same period in 2019.