Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdellatif Ouahbi has not denied what people are saying about spike of energy goods prices and the suffering of Moroccan families regarding high cost of living conditions; however, he has confirmed, during his invitation as a guest to dialogue program hosted by Aswat in partnership with Moroccan website Al Omq last Friday, October 7, 2022, that the government is feeling and monitoring closely the issue of high prices and therefore is intervening to alleviate the impact of high cost on citizens’ pockets.
Minister Ouahbi continued by explaining that the hard situation faced by Moroccan economy, saying “Despite high prices, there are permanent discussions inside the government coalition and there are hard works to find solutions to stop the high level of prices”
Mr. Ouahbi has highlighted in his response that up till yesterday, a government council meeting has come to the conclusion to afford about MAD 12 billion to pay for the cost of prices disparities of basic food products and for services to the benefit of Moroccan people concerning energy, and other various sectors defined by the Minister of Finance, which will be presented to Parliament.
Minister Ouahbi added “We should not forget that we are part of the global economy and that there’s a world financial crisis that puts more pressure on us and so affects our national economy and we have limited means”. The government, said Ouahbi, is facing right now two solutions, first is borrowing again and this solution according to Ouahbi will pledge the future of our youth and tomorrow’s Moroccans; the second solution is what the government is working on right now is through intervening according to our available means.”
In the same context, Minister Ouahbi has stated that the government is working right now on achieving an economic balance and pursuing the economic life pace dynamism calmly; “we have not followed on the steps of other countries whose economy has collapsed such as the state of Lebanon, through ensuring mass salaries of employees, subvention of energy and affording subvention to some vital sectors to achieve balances, and the next budget law will focus on those important financial balances.”
Minister Ouahbi has also stressed the fact that global crisis is putting more pressure on Moroccan citizens’ purchasing power, considering that the current government’s fate has coincided with drought, the war and world economic crisis, concluding that “we are not evading our responsibility to confront those haunting circumstances.”