Here are the main headlines developed by the national press for this Monday, June 24, 2024
L’Opinion
• Around 60,000 taxi vehicles have been renewed so far, representing more than 77% of the national fleet, according to the response of the Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, to a written question on the renewal program of the taxi fleet. taxis. These old vehicles have been replaced by modern models equipped with engines that consume up to 40% less fuel. In addition to modernizing the vehicle fleet, this ambitious program aims to improve the quality of services offered to passengers while contributing to the reduction of polluting emissions generated by taxis. This involves the adoption of ecological vehicles as a sustainable solution. Many professionals have therefore opted to replace their taxis with models with electric or hybrid engines.
• Health unions are engaging in a new cycle of protest on an unprecedented scale. After organizing several strikes over the previous months, the white coats intend to move up a gear. After a three-day national strike, scheduled for next Tuesday to Thursday, a new wave of walkouts is planned for the following month with the cessation of several services which risks having a direct impact on hospitals. The unions are protesting against the blocking of the sectoral dialogue initiated with the government since December 2023. Although there was a general agreement signed by the supervisory authority, this deal has not been followed by effects until now. A silence deemed unjustified by trade unionists who remain attached to the achievements of sectoral dialogue. For its part, the Ministry of Health returns the ball to the Head of Government whose arbitration is decisive.
• It is one of the water projects on which Morocco is banking heavily to deal with the water crisis. The project to interconnect the Oued El Makhazine dam (Ksar El Kébir province) with the Dar Khrofa dam (Larache province) is progressing well and should be ready at the end of next August or at the beginning of September, according to the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohammed Sadiki, during a conference organized by the Links Foundation in Casablanca. This future water highway, the construction of which is entrusted to the SNCE-SOGEA-SOGETRAMA and STAM-CAPEP group, extends over a length of 32 kilometers. Its construction required the mobilization of 900 million dirhams. Upon its completion, the highly anticipated station will serve as a weapon against the water stress plaguing Morocco, particularly in the northern region, and will allow the transfer of 100 million cubic meters. of water per year from the Oued El Makhazine dam to the Dar Khrofa dam via a canal under construction, with an estimated flow rate of 3.2 cubic meters per second.
The morning
• The multidimensional poverty rate in Morocco recorded a significant reduction, going from 40% in 2001 to 9.1% in 2014, then to 5.7% in 2022, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP). This dynamic is mainly driven by the strong reduction in multidimensional poverty in rural areas over the last two decades, from 73.4% in 2001 to 19.4% in 2014 and 11.2% in 2022, specifies the HCP in a note on “the evolution of the population’s standard of living in light of the results of the 2022 National Household Living Standards Survey”.
• A new brick in the construction of the logistics offer in the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region. The Moroccan Logistics Development Agency (AMDL) is working on the creation of a logistics platform in Oulad Bourahma in Kenitra. The future zone will cover an area of 44.5 ha and will be located in a location close to the railway line and the region’s economic centers, including the Kénitra free zone and the PSA industrial complex. “Improving logistics competitiveness is a real lever for territorial development for the regions. Efficient logistics constitute a key factor in the attractiveness of territories and makes it possible to support and catalyze their economic dynamics. This logistics performance imperatively requires the establishment of optimal logistics infrastructure and installations meeting the real needs of economic operators,” underlines the AMDL.
Release
• The Ambassador Permanent Representative of Morocco to the UN, Omar Hilale, launched, Friday in New York, with his counterpart from the United States, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the Group of Friends on Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable development. The launch of this Group, which held its first meeting at the ambassadorial level at the headquarters of the United States Mission in the American metropolis, comes following the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the first UN resolution on AI initially co-sponsored by Morocco and the United States, as well as by 123 member states until the day of its adoption. This historic resolution defines a global consensus on Artificial Intelligence to support sustainable development.
The Economist
• Less than 2% growth in insurance premiums in the 1st quarter. The sector generated 17.2 billion DH in turnover. It is mainly driven by the non-life branch which shows a 4.6% increase in premiums, reaching 11.7 billion DH. The automobile segment, with more than 5 billion DH in premiums (+5.7%), remains the driving force of this branch. These figures also highlight the need for the sector to explore new growth drivers. A strategic study is launched by the sector in order to explore new market development levers.
• What is the impact of distortions on the productivity of companies in the Moroccan manufacturing sector? This is the subject developed by an HCP study, the result of collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). According to his results, the misallocation of resources hinders the growth of high-productivity companies. Eliminating these distortions could triple the size of 51.1% of companies and increase manufacturing sector output by almost 97%. In other words, “it would be possible to significantly increase production in the sector without requiring additional private or public investments, and therefore without additional costs for the community, by reducing the distortions that companies face,” note the authors of the study. The latter shows that distortions linked to the business climate particularly impact companies below their optimal size.
Al Bayane
• The “polisario” imposes a “regime of terror in the Tindouf camps” where human rights are “systematically violated”, underlines the Spanish academic Hector Alvarez Garcia. “The leadership of the Polisario is a band of criminals who have imposed a regime of terror in the Tindouf camps: a prison in the desert where human rights are systematically violated,” Alvarez Garcia is indignant in a column published on Saturday to the Spanish newspaper “La Razon”. “The Polisario Front is a bloodthirsty and kleptocratic organization whose ambition is to establish, through armed struggle, a fictitious and instrumentalized state in the Sahara”, a “historically and legally Moroccan territory”, observes the professor of constitutional law in the Pablo Olavide University of Seville.
Al Massae
• The High Commission for Planning (HCP) indicated that the main repercussions of inflation and the succession of years of drought have not only had an impact on the socio-economic well-being of Moroccan families, but have also exacerbated spatial disparities. The HCP national survey on household living standards for 2022 revealed that spatial disparities between urban and rural areas have increased, by calculating the share separating the average income of families in urban and rural areas, quantified in 2019 at 1.8% and having reached 1.9% in 2022. The survey highlighted that the difference in spending between the two environments leans in favor of the urban, noting that the greatest disparities were recorded at the product level and services related to culture and entertainment (4.8 times), education (4.5 times), housing and energy (2.6 times) and communication (2.5 times).
Al Alam
• Morocco firmly opposes “the logic of those who give lessons and those who blackmail” the countries of the Sahel, affirmed the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans living abroad, Nasser Bourita. “Morocco has confidence in the elites and in the genius of the Sahel countries to find the best path to deal with the complex situation in the region and to succeed in the democratic transition,” Bourita underlined during a press briefing. at the end of his meetings with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabè Abroad, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré. The Kingdom, he continued, is against foreign interference in the affairs of the Sahel countries and “the policies of those who give lessons and those who consider that, given that they have borders with the Sahel, they can opt for a policy of blackmail.”
Bayane Al Yaoum
• The United States is “grateful to Morocco for its regional leadership”, indicated the spokesperson for American diplomacy, Matthew Miller, following a telephone interview between the American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita. Blinken had a “productive discussion” with Bourita, noted the State Department spokesperson in a statement Friday on the X platform, formerly Twitter. The United States recently highlighted the importance of Morocco’s support for the proposal of the President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, as “a way to build a more integrated, more peaceful and more stable Middle East region “.
Al Ittihad alichtiraki
• The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and Burkinabés Abroad, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, reiterated, Friday in Rabat, the constant position of Burkina Faso for support for the territorial integrity of Morocco throughout its territory. During a press briefing held at the end of his talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, Nasser Bourita, the head of the Burkinabe diplomacy reaffirmed his country’s support for the autonomy plan presented by Morocco, as the best solution which “in reality restores the position of Burkina Faso”. Traoré at the same time praised “the excellent work that is being done within the framework of the United Nations” and expressed his wish to see this plan “benefit from the support of all”.
Al Ahdat Al Maghribia
• The reduction in the key rate to 2.5% will have positive effects on borrowers, both for families with regard to consumption or real estate investment, or for economic actors of all sizes, by restoring their confidence and encouraging them to invest in acquiring the tools and mechanisms of production as well as in employment, in order to reduce the unemployment rate which has worsened to 15%, estimated the expert in public policies, Abdelghani Yamani. The expert indicated in an interview delivered to the daily that internal uncertainty and the lack of a close link between the key rate, development and employment, as in the United States and China, prevent Bank Al-Maghrib from move away from its precautionary monetary policy. He underlined that the reduction of the key rate by 0.5% is capable of injecting dynamism into the construction, small and medium-sized businesses and consumer credit sectors, particularly in terms of car acquisition. and household appliances.
Assahra Al-Maghribia
• Morocco, in the person of Brahim Al Atmani, president of the General Mutual of Public Administration Personnel (MGPAP) and the African Mutual Union (UAM), was elected, Friday in Porto, to the presidency World Mutual Union (UMM). This election took place on the occasion of the 6th General Assembly of the UMM organized in Porto, in recognition of the distinguished Moroccan experience in the field of mutuality, which marked a distinguished career in the management of the General Mutual, indicates a press release from MGPAP.
