Morocco’s Consumer Prices Surge 5.3% in March, Food Costs Jump 9.1%

In an information note on the CPI for March 2022, the HCP explains that this variation results from a 3.8% increase in the index of food products and a 0.5% increase in the index of non-food products. "Compared to the same month of the previous year, the consumer price index recorded an increase of 5.3% during the month of March 2022 as a result of the increase in the index of food products of 9.1% and that of non-food products of 2.8%," the same source points out. Regarding non-food products, the variations range from stagnation for "health" and "communication" to a 7.6% increase for "Transport".

For food products, the increases were recorded between February and March 2022 and mainly concerned "Vegetables" with 13.8%, "Fish and seafood" with 6.2%, "Fruits" with 5.2%, "Meats" with 3.5%, "Milk, cheese and eggs" with 2.1%, "Bread and cereals" with 1.9% and "Oils and fats" with 1.2%. Conversely, prices fell by 0.2% for "Mineral waters, soft drinks, fruit and vegetable juices", the same source specifies. Regarding non-food products, the increase mainly concerned the prices of "Fuels" with 8.0%.

As for the cities, prices increased in Errachidia (2.8%), Beni-Mellal (2.5%), Settat and Al-hoceima (2.4%), Fès, Tétouan and Safi (2.3%), Meknès, Tanger and Laâyoune (2.1%), Kénitra and Oujda (1.9%), Casablanca (1.7%), Dakhla (1.6%), Marrakech (1.4%), Agadir and Rabat (1.2%) and Guelmim (0.7%), the institution also details. And to conclude: "Under these conditions, the underlying inflation indicator, which excludes volatile price products and public tariff products, would have recorded an increase of 0.5% compared to the month of February 2022 and 3.9% compared to the month of March 2021".