Morocco’s Consumer Price Index Rises 0.7% in 2020, Food Prices Up 0.9%

The increase in the CPI stems from the rise in the index of food products and non-food products by 0.9% and 0.5% respectively. The diversities noted for non-food products range from a 1.6% drop for "Transport" to a 2.7% increase for "Education", the HCP said, adding that from this result, the underlying inflation indicator, which excludes volatile price products and public tariff products, would have increased by 0.5% in 2020 compared to 2019.

As for the cities, the largest increases in the annual CPI were recorded in Guelmim with 2.1%, in Beni-Mellal with 1.3%, in Tangier and Laâyoune with 1%, in Agadir, Rabat and Meknes with 0.9%, in Marrakech, Settat and Al-hoceima with 0.8% and in Errachidia with 0.7%. On the other hand, in Fez and Kenitra, nothing changed.

In December 2020, the CPI fell by 0.5% compared to November 2020. A change due to the 1.4% decline in the food products index and the 0.1% increase in the non-food products index. Furthermore, the declines in food products recorded between November and December 2020 mainly concern "Vegetables" with 6.5%, "Fruits" with 5.2%, "Meats" with 1.2% and "Fish and seafood" with 0.5%.

However, prices rose by 0.6% for "Oils and fats" and 0.2% for "Milk, cheese and eggs". Regarding non-food products, the increase was based on "Fuels" prices by 3.5%. For the underlying inflation indicator, it would have recorded an increase of 0.1% during December, compared to November 2020, the HCP specified.