Morocco is experiencing its highest inflation peak in 30 years. Food prices have risen by more than 16%, hitting the poorest families hard and pushing more than 3.2 million more people below the poverty line.
The economic consequences of the mismanagement of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, aggravated by a major and historic drought in Morocco, are dragging the country into a dizzying inflationary spiral that is hitting the poorest households hard. As of the end of 2022, a study by the Moroccan High Commission for Planning, the institution responsible for statistical production in Morocco, reports that “3.2 million additional people have fallen into poverty (1.15 million) or in vulnerability (2.05 million)”.
According to another study carried out by the same organization, annual inflation reached an alarming figure of 8.2% during the month of March 2023, “as a result of the rise in the index of food products by 16.1% and that of non-food products by 3.0%”. This is the highest inflation peak in the last 30 years.
Also according to this study, the food products that have increased the most are fruits (3.4%), fish and seafood (2.2%), and dairy products and coffee (0.3%). This means that the poorest families are the most affected by inflation because food products represent a larger share of the expenses of the poorest households. In this sense, a World Bank report shows that “ annual inflation can be 30% higher for the poorest decile than for the richest decile”.
The causes of such a spike in inflation are multiple. In addition to the economic devastation caused by the mismanagement of the pandemic, the war in Ukraine has led to higher prices for cereals, edible oils, fuels and fertilizers. Economist Najib Akesbi explains to Liberation that in Morocco, “it’s inflation linked to import costs. The share of international trade in the Moroccan economy is very important and the dependence is strong, particularly in the food and energy fields”. In addition to this, Morocco is going through the worst drought in forty years, which has led to a 17.3% drop in agricultural production according to the World Bank, strongly impacting cereal production.
Faced with this crisis, the Moroccan government has signed an agreement with the IMF for a loan of 5 billion dollars, which will have even more disastrous consequences for the country’s workers, who will be increasingly impoverished by the policies of austerity imposed by this body whose real function is to save the business of the big imperialist multinationals.
But if the Moroccan leaders are worried about this rise in the cost of living, it is not out of “compassion” with regard to working-class and working-class families. No, their concern is focused on the possibility of discontent and deep popular revolts as we have seen in the past in the region with the “Arab Spring” starting in Tunisia, or more recently revolts like the one in Sri Lanka, even the deep social and political crisis that France is currently going through. Indeed, the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine as well as those of the climate crisis could put back on the agenda the eruption of the masses leading to the fall of regimes in the countries of the capitalist periphery. This would indeed be the best response from the workers and the popular classes.
