Morocco’s Tax Revenue Plummets, Straining Public Finances in First Half of Year

Compared to the same period last year, this decline is estimated at 12.7 billion dirhams, due to a 9.2 billion dirhams drop in tax revenue and 2.7 billion dirhams in non-tax revenue, explains the Ministry of Economy and Finance in its publication on the situation of Treasury charges and resources (SCRT). Their realization rate is around 42.6% compared to 49% in the first half of the previous year.

"Excluding IS, which has not been fundamentally impacted in 2020, the evolution of other tax revenues, at the end of June, reflects the impact of the cessation of activity and the gradual recovery following the partial lifting of the lockdown decided on June 11," the document states. "In this context, the decline in tax revenues recorded during the months of April and May is beginning to show signs of mitigation," the report notes. Corporate tax collections, excluding advances, stood at 1.6 billion dirhams at the end of June, while they were around 700 million dirhams in April and 1 billion dirhams in May.

"Taking into account the advances paid, IS revenues amounted to 9.2 billion dirhams in June, including nearly 1 billion dirhams for the balance of the March advance paid by companies that had benefited from the postponement of the payment of this advance," explains the Finance Department, specifying that "over the semester, IS revenues stood at the same level as at the end of June 2019, i.e. 25.3 billion dirhams, recording a realization rate of 47.8%".