Lekjaa, who was answering oral questions in the House of Representatives, noted that the impact of two major crises occurred in such a short time, namely the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war, have led to the rise in commodity prices globally, especially those of energy and food.
The prices of energy and food have recorded an increase of 80% and 24.5% respectively in the first four months of the current year, he stressed, noting that this has led to the continued increase in the inflation rate in most countries.
In this sense, he noted that this rate reached 4% in Morocco at the end of March 2022, against 8% in the United States, 6.1% in the Euro zone, and 7.2% in Tunisia during the same period.
“This result is not the result of chance,” he added, noting that this is indeed the result of a strong proactive policy that required difficult decisions with precise calculations, based on the cohesion between a great budgetary effort to support commodities and affected sectors, the preservation of the development effort emanating from a comprehensive Royal vision with strategic dimensions, and the commitments of the government within the framework of the development model.
Lekjaa also noted that “it is not possible to make available all the budgetary capacity of the State to cope with an urgent situation at the expense of the good of all Moroccans in the development, and at the expense of the realization of construction sites and major projects to improve the lives of Moroccans on all fronts.
In this sense, he said that the Compensation Fund still subsidizes the basic products to large consumption, noting that its charges have increased significantly during this period to mitigate the rise in prices, in addition to a budgetary effort set aside the Fund.
In addition, the Minister referred to the impact of the global crisis on the Kingdom and the strategy adopted by the government to address this crisis and measures taken in this direction.
In this regard, the official recalled that the pandemic has led to an almost total halt in production and economic activity, which has caused a global economic slowdown that has led to major repercussions, including the loss of jobs and regression of growth.
Lekjaa further noted that after the improvement of the epidemiological situation in 2021, and the resumption of global demand on products and services, the production capacity had clearly declined in several sectors, constituting the first factor of the price increase, adding that the supply chains, especially transport, were impacted, which also contributed to the price increase.
Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse