Fuel retailer margins are back in the spotlight as the government considers the idea of subsidising pump prices unlikely.
Fuel prices at the pump increased on Monday, July 1 in Morocco, as the government promised to protect the purchasing power of Moroccans. Unleaded gasoline increased by 16 cents per liter and diesel by nearly 33 cents per liter, in a context of the return of the diaspora and weak growth.
Morocco has launched its major annual operation to return its diaspora for the summer, the largest migratory movement of the year. Expatriates who enter the country from the Spanish ports of Motril, Almeria and Algeciras; from Sète and Marseille (France) and from Genoa, in Italy, will be faced with this new increase which will mainly concern more than 770,000 Moroccan vehicles that will cross the Strait of Gibraltar.
Morocco continues to experience continuous increases in hydrocarbon prices, despite the international lull. Many voices have called again for the capping of fuel distributors’ margins. Aziz Akhannouch, who manages as best he can his highly criticized dual role as a leading political leader and major shareholder of Afriquia, the leader on the national market, remains tacit on the subject.
The opposition is demanding from the government a reduction in indirect taxes and an increase in corporate tax.
