Morocco Weighs Lockdown as COVID-19 Cases Surge, Economic Concerns Mount

Faced with the current situation, marked by a worrying rise in Covid-19 contamination cases, Moroccans, already affected by the economic crisis, fear the return of the old demons of confinement, unemployment...! Worse, the panic at the top of the state leads the daily Al Massae to wonder if Morocco would be able to economically and socially bear the heavy price of a reconfinement?

While the number of new infections and deaths recorded since deconfinement is worrying, it is "the lack of harmony shown by the government team, and especially the surprise decision to quarantine eight cities that worry more," notes the same newspaper, which has also devoted a special edition to the subject. From this decision, one could conclude that the government has "made a 180-degree turn", which had nevertheless "lifted the restrictions only a few days ago, which revives the fears of a return to confinement," the same source affirms.

Proof of this, the two months of confinement imposed by the coronavirus pandemic have cost the Moroccan economy 6 points of growth in its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the year 2020, which means a loss of 1 billion dirhams per day of confinement, had pointed out the Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform. This loss, according to Mohamed Benchaâboun, "would have been much more important if the financial support had not been provided by the Special Fund for the Management of the Coronavirus Pandemic, created on the high instructions of King Mohammed VI."

However, on the social level, since the support provided by the government is not enough for him to meet his needs, "the average citizen would prefer prison to confinement at home without a source of income," the media observes, adding that the psychological aftermath of the previous confinement are still present, a return to square one could provoke outbursts of anger with disastrous consequences. In short, it concludes, "the government thus finds itself between the hammer of the spread of the new coronavirus and the anvil of the suspension of economic activities and the damage it would cause to the national economy."