Morocco Consumer Prices Dip 0.3% as Food Costs Fall, HCP Reports

This decline results from a 0.7% drop in the food products index and a stagnation of the non-food products index. The underlying inflation indicator is stagnant over one month and up 3.6% over one year.

The declines in food products observed between October and November 2023 mainly concern "Fruits" with 15.5%, "Oils and fats" with 0.8%, "Bread and cereals" with 0.2% and "Sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery" with 0.1%. On the other hand, prices increased by 4.6% for "Vegetables", 3.0% for "Fish and seafood" and 0.6% for "Meats". For non-food products, the decline mainly concerned "Fuels" prices with 1.1%.

The largest declines in the CPI were recorded in Agadir with 0.9%, in Kénitra and Laâyoune with 0.8%, in Marrakech, Tétouan and Errachidia with 0.7%, in Meknès and Tanger with 0.6%, in Casablanca with 0.4%, in Guelmim with 0.3% and in Settat and Al-hoceima with 0.2%. On the other hand, increases were recorded in Safi with 0.9%, in Beni-Mellal with 0.5% and in Fès and Dakhla with 0.3%.

Compared to the same month of the previous year, the consumer price index recorded an increase of 3.6% in November 2023 as a result of the 7.6% increase in the food products index and the 0.7% increase in the non-food products index. For non-food products, the variations range from a 2.4% decline for "Transport" to a 4.8% increase for "Restaurants and hotels".

Under these conditions, the underlying inflation indicator, which excludes volatile price products and regulated price products, would have remained stable compared to October 2023 and increased by 3.6% compared to November 2022.