Morocco Weighs Economic Impact as COVID-19 Cases Surge, Lockdown Fears Grow

Would a lockdown be beneficial for Moroccans, at a time when the kingdom is fighting for an economic recovery? This is the question that citizens are whispering, still keeping in mind the sad memory of three months of confinement. However, today, far from improving, the situation is becoming more complicated. In reality, the second wave of the resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, which has already caused the kingdom to exceed the 200,000 mark in contamination cases, seems to be escaping the control of the authorities, observes La Map, adding that the increase in mortality has led the country to record 3,762 cases in total.

Faced with this worrying picture, the question of a lockdown is being raised with acuity. It was even the subject of a webinar entitled "Should we lock down again?". In this regard, Amine Nejjar, vice-president of the Alliance of Istiqlal Economists, called for a "well-thought-out decision" regarding the future consequences of a potential "re-confinement", whether at the health, medical, social or economic level. For this Istiqal executive, if Morocco finds itself in such a situation today, it is because the deconfinement was not carried out optimally. "Strict control of sanitary measures is important today to minimize the damage," he insisted.

Instead of rushing into a total lockdown, Amine Nejjar recommends continuing the awareness-raising efforts on the need to respect barrier gestures, which should be led by political parties, trade unions and professional organizations, associations and civil society actors, with the support of local authorities. "If we opt for a total lockdown, we need to think about the dramatic consequences of this decision for people working in the informal sector who live only on daily income," Amine Nejjar pointed out, indicating that "the State no longer has the means to financially support them".