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Morocco’s State Revenues Plummet 80 Billion Dirhams Amid COVID-19 Crisis
Wednesday 3 February 2021, by
The coronavirus crisis has strongly impacted state revenues. At the end of 2020, they stood at 80 billion DH, said Monday, the head of government, Saâdeddine El Othmani before the deputies of the House of Representatives.
During this meeting, Saâdeddine El Othmani recalled the various measures taken by the government to encourage domestic production. According to the head of government, domestic production is on the right track, because between April and November 2020, the coverage rate of imports by exports stood at 68%, against 54% for the same period last year. "Our wish is to reduce the value of imports to 34 billion dirhams," he specified.
The head of government also welcomed the efforts made in the self-employment sector which has expanded to 250,000 people. He encouraged workers in the informal sector to join the legal economic fabric, specifying that social coverage is one of the solutions for the legalization of parallel trade. The head of the Executive also welcomed the promotion of the national product, noting that the majority of food products, especially agricultural ones, are manufactured in Morocco.
Regarding the awarding of public contracts to Moroccan companies through tenders, the head of government assured that priority and advantage given to companies have become "mandatory" under the provisions of the law. "15% of public contracts are mandatorily entrusted to Moroccan companies. All roads and dams are currently built by national companies," he added.