Morocco Fuel Prices Remain High Despite Global Oil Price Drop

In recent days, Brent crude from the North Sea and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) were trading at around $86 a barrel, but fuel prices remain unchanged in Morocco, according to the daily Les Inspirations Éco. The price of gasoline remained unchanged after the 84-cent increase implemented two weeks ago, while the price of diesel fell slightly on Friday at several service stations (by about 23 cents).

This paradox is explained by the fixing of the purchase price on the day of delivery, and not on the day of the order, the lag between the time when the distributors buy and the time when they store it, then distribute it, the delay between the placing of the order and the delivery being 45 days. There is always "a time lag" in the pass-through of the drop, says economist Omar Bakkou.

Bouazza Kharrati, president of the Moroccan Federation of Consumer Rights, does not share this view. "It’s always the big dilemma in Morocco. The increases are applied instantly, but the decreases, you have to get up early to get them," he explains. It is therefore up to the Competition Council (CC) to intervene to establish the truth of the prices. A task that is not instantaneous, according to Omar Bakkou, because this institution "is only the generalist of market regulation" and not a "specific regulator of the fuel market".