Here are the main headlines developed by the national press for this Wednesday, December 4, 2024
L’Opinion
• Basic retirement pensions will benefit from a progressive exemption from income tax, with a 50% reduction in 2025 and a total elimination in 2026. This decision, announced by the Minister Delegate in charge of the Budget, Fouzi Lekjaa , during his presentation before the House of Advisors, Monday, December 2, comes after the mass mobilization of civil service retirees in front of Parliament, last Saturday. They demanded the immediate enhancement of pensions, which have remained unchanged for 25 years, and that this measure be implemented within the framework of the 2025 Finance Bill, before its adoption.
• Faced with the meteoric rise of electronic commerce, the Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ryad Mezzour, announced imminent measures aimed at regulating this sector while strengthening consumer protection. Speaking before parliamentarians this Monday, he revealed that a bill is being developed to respond to the challenges posed by this new economic reality. Among the notable elements of this reform, we find the establishment of specific pricing for electronic platforms, designed to offer greater transparency to consumers and guarantee them simplified access to administrative remedies in the event of disputes.
The morning
• Cultural tourism constitutes 69% of the total accommodation capacity in Morocco and attracts 84% of international visitors, indicated the Minister of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor. “Tourism in the ancient medinas is of great importance today, because it is part of cultural tourism, which has a strong appeal,” Ammor stressed to the House of Representatives. Given its crucial importance, the 2023-2026 tourism roadmap has dedicated a specific sector to this type of tourism among the nine thematic sectors, she recalled.
• Since 2020, the Solidarity Fund against Catastrophic Events has established itself as a pillar of social and economic protection in Morocco. Fueled by a parafiscal tax on non-life insurance, it generated more than $90 million in cumulative revenue in three years and released $300 million after the Al Haouz earthquake. A look back at an essential system supported by the World Bank to protect vulnerable populations and reduce the impact of natural risks.
• Manufacturers are counting on an improvement in production and sales in practically all branches of activity over the next three months. In this table, only the electrical and electronics and textile and leather activities are exceptions. Business leaders in electrical and electronics expect, in fact, stagnation in production and sales, while in textiles and leather bosses anticipate stagnation in production.
• With total sales of 153,779 units at the end of November 2024 and overall growth of 6.8%, the Moroccan automobile market displays positive dynamics. Passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles drive this performance, while the premium segment continues to maintain good shape. This growth, supported by a diversification of the offer and adapted commercial strategies, announces a favorable end to 2024 for the automotive sector in Morocco.
Liberation
• The Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch, represents King Mohammed VI at the “One Water” Summit, whose work opened on Tuesday in Riyadh, with a view to discussing the scarcity of water resources on a global scale and the related challenges. The “One Water Summit”, which is being held on the sidelines of the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), is an initiative led by Saudi Arabia in partnership with France, Kazakhstan and the World Bank to discuss global water scarcity.
Al Bayane
• The independent union of public sector doctors (SIMSP) announced in a press release the continuation of its protest movement for the third consecutive week. The same source confirmed the holding of a general strike on the 4th and 5th of the current month in all health establishments with the exception of emergency and intensive care services. The SIMSP justified its action by the inaction of the government which “did not want to come to the table for dialogue with a view to defusing tensions and finding solutions, despite the critical phase that the sector is going through”.
Al Alam
• The Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ryad Mezzour, informed the House of Representatives that small traders dominate 80% of the national local commerce market. The “small” trader is at the heart of the government’s concerns because of its essential social role, since it provides direct services to citizens, “lending each Moroccan family nearly 840 dirhams on average,” he said. . He added that about 30% of these transactions have nothing to do with the merchandise being sold by the merchant, but are instead related to paying bills or providing funds directly.
Bayane Al Yaoum
• Morocco was elected member of the new Executive Bureau of the Council of Arab Ministers of Electricity for the period 2024-2026. This election took place on the sidelines of the 15th meeting of the Council, held in the new administrative capital. The Moroccan delegation was chaired by the Moroccan ambassador to Cairo and its permanent representative to the Arab League, Mohamed Aït Ouali, and included representatives of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE ) and the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development. The Common Arab Electricity Market, the agreement of which was signed by Morocco, the State of the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, State of Qatar, Libya, Sudan and Yemen, represents a strategic step towards achieving Arab integration in the field of electricity.
Al Ahdat Al Maghribia
• The Ministry of the Interior indicated, in a recent report, that the market control services carried out from January to the end of September this year around 237,000 inspections, notably in stores, production premises, places of storage and wholesale and retail stores as well as in weekly markets. These operations resulted in the closure of 462 stores which did not comply with health standards, in addition to the seizure and destruction of 642 tonnes of food products unfit for consumption or not complying with quality standards.
• The Akhannouch government has laid the first milestones to advance the issue of Moroccan retirees through a measure, described as unprecedented in the history of successive governments, which will rehabilitate this category. During the approval of the amendments to the finance bill in the House of Advisors, the government approved the amendment, which provides for the total exemption of retirees’ pensions from income tax, thus demonstrating the understanding of the Executive of the precarious situation of retirees. This social demand remained unsatisfied for decades, before finding a way for it to see the light of day, through the approval by the government of the amendments submitted by the parliamentary groups of the majority and the CGEM.
Assahra Al-Maghribia
• While the bill relating to the right to strike entered the final stages of voting, the standoff between the government and the unions intensified, against a backdrop of rejection of the current version by the union centers, which criticize to the government for having started the examination of this text in the House of Representatives before agreeing on the project. Younes Farachen, coordinator of the Front for the Defense of the Right to Strike, affirmed that the components of this Front have taken a first step and contacted all the majority groups to discuss the amendments proposed by the unions. The Front, he told the newspaper, stressed the need for parliamentary groups to vigorously defend the exercise of the right to strike.
• The Minister of Tourism, Crafts and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, indicated that the nights of internal tourism amount to 30 million, taking into account the different forms of accommodation, in addition classified hotel establishments. In response to two oral questions in the House of Representatives, Ammor stressed that these figures confirm that the Moroccan tourist is the first customer of the Morocco destination. And to maintain that internal tourism is now a lever for economic, social and territorial development, contributing to job creation and the revitalization of related sectors at the local level.
