Morocco’s Cafe and Restaurant Industry Pushes for Government Aid Amid Pandemic Recovery

Following a recent meeting, the cafe and restaurant owners, mostly gathered within the National Association of Cafe and Restaurant Owners (ANPCR), are demanding an unemployment benefit for the sector’s employees, including those who are not registered with the National Social Security Fund (CNSS). This with the commitment on the part of the employers to keep them for a minimum period of six months.

For employees who have been permanently laid off, the ANPCR is calling on the executive to grant them, by the end of the pandemic, an amount corresponding to 30% of their salary. The professional association is also demanding that the government cover, for the period since the beginning of the pandemic, half of the monthly contributions, as well as extend the exemption from penalties and fines related to the CNSS by two additional years.

They also demand an exemption from the public domain occupation tax as well as the related fines, for the years 2020 and 2021, the professional tax. Finally, the association of professionals is asking for the suspension of water and electricity supply to be stopped, and for the payment of the allowances to be spread over 24 months once the pandemic is over.

Hard hit by the measures imposed by Covid-19, cafes and restaurants, which employ no less than 2 million people in Morocco, have recorded a drop of some 60% in their cumulative turnover, with the threat of closure of at least a quarter of the companies.