Rabat -
A year has passed since the inauguration of the Moroccan government headed by Aziz Akhannouch and its constitutional oath before the Moroccan monarch on October 7, 2021.
The National Rally of Independents party topped the results of the legislative elections on the eighth of September last year, and made an alliance with the Authenticity, Modernity and Independence parties to form the government.
During a year of managing the affairs of Moroccans, Akhannouch's government faced major challenges and crises, as the country witnessed the worst drought in 4 decades, followed by the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the accompanying global rise in the prices of fuels and raw materials.
The Moroccan economy had begun to recover from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis last year, and recorded a growth of 7.8%.
However, 2022 was the year of crises, as described by analysts, so how did the Moroccan government, in its first year, face these crises?
Were the programs you announced were at the level of the severity of the problems?
recover then setback
While laying the assumptions on which the 2022 budget was based, Akhannouch's government did not expect that the country would witness a sharp decline in rain, a global rise in prices as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and a decline in the value of the euro against the dollar.
The government had expected in the 2022 Finance Law to achieve a growth rate of 3.2%, assuming the production of 8 million tons of grain, and based on the price of a barrel of oil at $68, and the price of a ton of butane at about $450.
However, the grain yield did not exceed 3.4 million tons, while the price of oil jumped to 105 dollars, and the price of butane to 800 dollars per ton.
Months after implementing the budget, Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fattah said in a meeting with the Finance and Economic Development Committee in the House of Representatives last summer, that the growth of the national economy in 2022 is expected to be limited to 1.5%, instead of the 3.2% expected in the Finance Law, and it is expected that the rate will exceed Inflation is 5.3%, compared to 1.4 in 2021.
On the other hand, the Board of Bank Al-Maghrib (the Central Bank) expected, in its report at the end of last September, that economic growth would slow this year to 0.8%, as a result of the decline in the value added of the agricultural sector by 14.7% and the slowdown in the growth of non-agricultural activities to 3.4%.
The expectations of the Board of Al-Maghrib Bank indicate an acceleration of the inflation rate to 6.3% for the whole of 2022.
What did the government do to overcome the crisis?
To overcome the crisis and support the purchasing power of citizens in the face of the significant rise in prices, especially fuel, and the subsequent increase in food prices, Akhannouch's government announced a number of measures, including:
Allocating an additional 15 billion dirhams (about $1.4 billion) to support the Clearing Fund (Social Support Fund).
Last March, the government launched an operation to support road transport professionals to confront the unprecedented rise in fuel prices, a support that is still being disbursed.
To alleviate youth unemployment, the government launched employment programs, including the “Urash” program with a budget of 2.25 billion dirhams (about 200 million dollars), with the aim of providing 250,000 job opportunities, most of which are temporary, and the “Opportunity” program that aims to support and accompany 10 thousand project holders. In all sectors of the economy, with a budget of 1.25 billion dirhams (about 115 million dollars).
It was also announced that the minimum wage would be raised in the industrial, commercial and liberal professions by 5%, and by 10% in the agricultural sector.
To face the repercussions of the severe drought that the country has experienced this season, the government has developed an exceptional program to reduce the effects of drought worth 10 billion dirhams (about 1.2 billion dollars) that includes restructuring farmers' debts and supporting affected agricultural activities.
tough year
Akhannouch's government asserts that its measures in the face of the simultaneous crises that the country has witnessed this year have made it possible to control the rise in prices, reduce its repercussions on the purchasing power of citizens, preserve the country's financial balances and achieve the resilience of the national economy.
In his assessment of the government’s performance this year, its head, Aziz Akhannouch, said in the guidance note on preparing the draft finance law for the year 2023, that “public finance has demonstrated its resilience and resilience in the face of external shocks, which enabled the country to maintain its financial sovereignty with the possibility of mobilizing additional financial margins capable of Preserving the public investment budget on the one hand and putting the treasury debt in a downward trend on the other hand.
However, economic experts assert that the measures it took and the programs it announced were not at the level of the severity of the crises, which affected the standard of living of Moroccans.
Economist Tohamy Abdel Khaleq believes that the conditions were not in favor of the Akhannouch government in its first year, given the major unexpected crises it faced.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, he explained that the solutions and measures taken by the government, even if they were positive, did not "have an effect because the crisis was much bigger, especially in the last six months."
In his view, the programs announced to confront successive crises are "marginal effect".
He said, "Allocating financial support to workers in the transport sector is a temporary solution to a crisis that the government thought would end quickly, which did not happen," adding that the government should devise sustainable programs and solutions, not circumstantial solutions.
"If the Ukrainian crisis continues and with it the rise in energy prices next year, it will show that such solutions are unsustainable," he added.
The need for strong and bold intervention
As for the economics researcher, Al-Tayyib Ais described the first year of the government as "the year of all crises".
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, he said, "This year, the country witnessed a severe drought and a collapse of the agricultural crop, then the Ukrainian crisis and the rise in fuel and food prices with the rise of the dollar against the dirham and the euro, which negatively affected exports and imports and affected the standard of living, especially the poor and middle classes."
He considered the programs launched by the government, such as supporting transport professionals and youth employment initiatives, as "simple programs and not on the level of the economic crisis that befell the country."
He pointed out that the situation requires strong and bold intervention from the government, by creating large and huge workshops to move the economy and revive small and medium companies.
As it finishes its first year, Akhannouch's government is preparing to finalize its budget for 2023.
According to the report on the implementation of the budget and macro-economic guidance for the period between 2023 and 2025, Akhannouch's government seems optimistic about the growth rate, as it expects a recovery of 4.5%.
Will the government, in its second year, adopt more aggressive programs in dealing with the turbulent international situation?