Morocco’s New Smartphone Tax Sparks Price Surge, Concerns for Consumers

During the examination of the proposed amendments to the 2024 Finance Bill (PLF) by the Finance Committee in the House of Advisors, it was decided that the import duty would increase from 2.5% to 17.5%, without a clear distinction between low and high-end phones, compared to 2.5% to 30%, the proposal of the government of Aziz Akhannouch, which did not take into account the different ranges of smartphones, nor the purchasing power of potential buyers, reports an authorized source to Médias24. This decision does not satisfy many professionals in the mobile telephony sector.

"This (increase to 17.5%) represents a 22% increase in the initial price of smartphones," warns Omar El Boury, a telecom expert representing a spontaneous group of mobile phone distributors in Morocco with the same media. According to his explanations, such an increase will have "disastrous consequences not only on the business of local distributors but also on the purchasing power of Moroccans who will naturally turn to the informal market to avoid paying the price difference."

To recall, the representatives of the majority within the Finance Committee of the First Chamber had opted for the maintenance of the VAT at 2.5% for low-end smartphones, whose value is less than 7,000 dirhams and the imposition of a tax of 17.5% for products exceeding 7,000 dirhams. But it was the maintenance of the increase in import duties to 30% on all phones that had ultimately prevailed, for lack of consensus.