Morocco’s annual inflation rate rose to 8.9% in January from 6.6% in December. The High Commission for Planning, the official body responsible for statistics, said in a statement released on Wednesday that the surge in inflation was due to a 16.8% rise in food prices.
Abdessalam el-Mahdaoui, a retired resident of Sale, says: “Right now, if you look at the prices of vegetables on the market, you will notice that they are still high, and people can no longer afford to Before, 100 dirhams (about 10 euros, editor’s note) was enough to buy vegetables for a week. Now, even 300 dirhams (about 30 euros, editor’s note) are not enough. This corresponds to almost 200% more than the purchasing power of citizens.
Khadija el-Asri, a housewife, hopes for lower prices of basic necessities: “Today we cannot buy groceries with the money we have because of the rise in prices. We need to first lower [the prices of] basic necessities: flour, sugar, and oil because these are products that people use a lot.”
Morocco was negatively impacted by the Russian-Ukrainian war, just like the rest of the world’s economies, with an increase in the prices of raw materials, foodstuffs, and energy.
the World Bank (WB) has revised its economic growth forecast for Morocco, but it still expects growth of 3% thanks to the revival of the agricultural sector.