Morocco Spends Over 3 Billion Dirhams on Wheat Subsidies Amid Rising Costs

Faced with the current economic and climatic uncertainties marked by the high cost, or even scarcity, of certain products such as soft wheat, the Moroccan government has had to take urgent measures.

"In the first 4 months of the current year alone, the subsidy allocated to soft wheat totaled 3 billion dirhams, under an agreement concluded by the government with the mills and bakeries, setting the price of this raw material at 270 dirhams per quintal," Mustapha Baitas stressed during a press briefing following the weekly meeting of the Council of Government.

As for the surge in prices of the rest of basic products, the minister indicated that the prices of local products have remained stable, but those imported are suffering from the vagaries of the international market. This is what prompted the government to take measures to "limit exports, carry out control operations at wholesale outlets and dialogue with professionals, in order to reduce the prices of a set of essential products, in particular vegetables, whose prices are currently stable and even tend to decrease," he said.