Morocco’s Cafe Crisis: 25% Shuttered as COVID-19 Devastates Hospitality Sector

The cafe and restaurant sector is going through its darkest hours. According to the National Association of Cafes and Restaurants in Morocco, "nearly 25% of the country’s cafes and restaurants have been forced to close their doors permanently due to their inability to keep up with government decisions". According to the same association, the drop in revenue for cafes and restaurants is estimated at 60% since the start of the pandemic, resulting in mass layoffs.

Faced with the situation, the association has sent a detailed rescue plan to members of the executive and parliamentarians. In this memorandum, it explained that industry professionals have not been able to keep up with the pace of government decisions related to the pandemic, including the closure of cafes at early hours, the ban on broadcasting football matches, or the limitation of capacity to only 50% of total capacity, and that the Ramadan curfew has brought cafe and restaurant owners to their knees. Pending receipt of the special allowance promised by the government, the association has made several proposals to save a sector on the brink of the abyss.

These proposals are:

• Compensate all employees declared to the CNSS as soon as possible and those who are not declared according to a list drawn up by the employer, with a commitment from the latter to keep them for at least 6 months,
• Cover 50% of the monthly contributions to the CNSS since the start of the pandemic until its end.
• Compensate employees who have lost their jobs up to 30% of their salary until the end of the pandemic, etc.

The association also calls for an extension of exemptions from CNSS penalties and fines for a period of two years after the pandemic, adjustments to the payment of the single professional contribution (CPU), exemptions from professional tax and municipal service tax, non-payment of the additional duty related to the social security contribution covering compulsory health insurance and an exemption from taxes on beverage sales and the use of public land, a freeze on all eviction judgments against tenants. It also requests an extension of working hours until 11 p.m. after the month of Ramadan and a major update of the laws regulating the sector.