Tags: Morocco, gas cylinders, price surge, Aziz Akhanouch, subsidies,
In addition to the surge in the prices of basic necessities and certain services, those of butane gas have experienced a meteoric rise since the day before yesterday, which has sparked discontent among his majesty’s subjects, forced to face a new fad of the head of government, the oligarch Aziz Akhanouch, owner of the company “Akwa” which distributes and markets this energy product.
Full of shame, the latter justified this increase by his government’s desire to mobilize funds for social assistance programs intended in particular for residents of areas affected by the earthquake of September 8.
Aziz Akhanouch, installed by the Makhzen at the head of the government just after the conclusion of normalization agreements with the Zionist entity, replacing the Islamist Saad Eddine El-Othmani, chose the easy solution by subjecting disadvantaged social classes to the escapades of the royal family, and of the comprador bourgeoisie, the true right arm of the Makhzen. It must be remembered in this context that the feudal system which governs the destiny of the Moroccan people grants little interest to the king’s subjects.
It should be remembered in this context that the Moroccan tax system provides broad advantages to foreigners who come to invest in Morocco. This encouraged many foreigners, particularly wealthy foreigners, to acquire riads at low prices and benefit from tax exemptions for several years. This has also caused several unions and citizen organizations to react for years to request the inclusion of a law allowing the cancellation of these advantages but without success. “This money could have financed social assistance programs whose cost is borne by ordinary citizens,” say Moroccan activists.
Akhanouch, who is the main energy supplier for the Moroccan market, offered a convoluted explanation to justify the increase in butane gas bottles. He affirmed that this increase is only minimal and will make it possible to partially absorb the subsidy granted by the government to this product, to rationalize public spending and to finance the direct social assistance program, intended for the most deprived households. That alone is a joke according to many Moroccans who maintain that the Akwa group company will be the main beneficiary of this increase. The 3 kg butane gas cylinder which cost 10 dirhams will now be sold at 12.5 dirhams, an increase of 25%.
The 12 kg bottle, for its part, will see its price increase by 10 dirhams, from 40 to 50 dirhams.” A real drain on the budgets of modest families. For him, the objective is to better target social assistance and make it more efficient. The direct social assistance program, which has already benefited 3.6 million households, is a concrete example. However, in concrete terms, this aid ultimately only benefited the rich since the various price increases for basic necessities quickly eroded the purchasing power of Moroccan households.
This new increase could make a social explosion inevitable in Morocco, the ingredients of which today seem more and more present since the arrival at the head of the government of Aziz Akhenouch.
Slimane B.
The Courier of Algeria
#Morocco #Gas #Akhanouch #Akwa
