Government spokesperson Mustapha Baitas defended, Thursday January 23, during the weekly press conference, “the efforts made by the executive” to combat inflation while attributing its main causes “to external factors.” According to him, “Morocco is currently experiencing a general drop in prices with the exception of a few consumer products.”
Mr. Baitas explained that inflationary pressures “result mainly from the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted global supply chains, seven consecutive years of drought and the reduction of national livestock.” These elements, he asserted, “have strongly affected the national economy and contributed to the rise in prices.”
The spokesperson also highlighted the financial and structural measures undertaken by the government to support purchasing power. “Morocco is the only country to support upstream production chains, in particular by subsidizing agricultural inputs for the most consumed vegetables”he declared. He recalled the aid (suspended since April 2024) granted to the transport sector, the subsidies from the Compensation Fund as well as the social support programs put in place to mitigate the consequences of inflation.
The real causes are elsewhere
Mr. Baitas pretends to ignore the real causes of inflation. The Moroccan market remains plagued by speculative practices which artificially worsen consumer prices. Intermediaries, often outside of any tax and regulatory control, exploit loopholes in the system to inflate their margins, causing a disproportionate increase in costs. “For example, between the exit of agricultural products from farms and their arrival at the consumer, prices are multiplied by two, or even by three, due to a chain of intermediaries who escape any effective regulation”the opposition recently revealed in Parliament.
-These distortions are not due to real shortages or high production costs, but to a speculative logic fueled by a lack of transparency in the markets. “In this context, the absence of a strict public policy to regulate and monitor distribution circuits fuels a feeling of economic injustice. The most modest, already weakened by the rise in the cost of living, are suffering the direct consequences”it was reported.
Speculators, by exploiting price volatility and imbalances in supply and demand, manage to impose their rule on key markets, such as those for food products or construction materials. “This situation is all the more intolerable as the State, while making significant resources available to subsidize strategic sectors, is unable to break this vicious circle”had accused MP Fatima Tamni.
By ignoring this crucial issue in its speech, Aziz Akhannouch’s government seems to refuse to attack the problem at its root. Without an in-depth reform of the distribution system, accompanied by reinforced control mechanisms and sanctions against speculative practices, the current timid measures risk remaining insufficient. Faced with a population that questions the effectiveness of public policies, “this complacency towards informal and crooked market players can only further fuel anger and distrust towards institutions”fears the PPS.
