Morocco Considers Raising Retirement Age and Pension Contributions to Address Financial Strain

Introduced in 2016, this reform made it possible to postpone the expiration date of the reserves of this scheme to 2027 and reduce its debts from 695 billion dirhams to 355 billion dirhams, said the Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fattah Alaoui, to the House of Advisors.

"As planned, this reform will not allow the system to fulfill its financial obligations without resorting to its reserves," she specified, adding that the current government, which is in the continuation of this trend, has made efforts to engage the reform of the standards of the pension system.

In this sense, a technical study has been launched, aimed at developing a precise vision of the future pension system, the minister stressed. The results have allowed the executive to master the technical aspects of the targeted system, particularly those related to its structure, as well as possible scenarios to be adopted for the standards and operating methods of the future envisaged systems.

Ultimately, these results will be shared with the various stakeholders, immediately followed by in-depth consultations with the social partners in order to adopt an agreed reform plan, before beginning to prepare the necessary legislative requirements and present them to Parliament, she explained.