Morocco Considers Ending Gas Subsidies, Sparking Consumer Concerns

"From this year, we will allocate 20 billion dirhams to direct aid for the benefit of households living in precariousness," announced Fouzi Lekjaa, Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget. This will result in the removal of the subsidy on the price of the gas bottle. The possible lifting of this subsidy is motivated by the observation: "the current subsidy hardly benefits the poor families who consume less than one gas bottle per month," says Les Inspirations Éco.

This decision not yet effective is already provoking reactions due to the consequences it could have, in particular the increase in the price of the gas bottle. According to the president of the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights, Bouazza Kherrati, removing this subsidy could be the beginning of social instability. He therefore suggests "that the government reconsider this hypothesis which can only be viable subject to being preceded by preliminary measures".