Moroccan Government Reassures Consumers Against Price Hike

The Moroccan government on Tuesday reasserted that the staple food items subsidized by the government will not experience a price hike even though prices are soaring at the international level.

The Moroccan government is determined to implement a set of measures to improve the purchasing power of Moroccans with an eye to curbing the explosion of prices noted at the international level, the Moroccan minister of economic and general affairs, Nizar Baraka, told a news briefing in Rabat.

Several urgent measures were taken in this sense, including the establishment of an intelligence function to follow through prices and market supplies, as well as strengthening the price control of the subsidized products, the same source said.

Value-added tax reduction is also considered, as well as a wage increase.

The staple food items and other essential goods subsidized by the state include hydrocarbons, flour and sugar.

The subsidy fund will release 22 billion dirham (3 billion dollars) for the year 2008.

The Moroccan market has experienced significant price hikes for some wide consumption products such as oil and butter of which the prices have almost doubled in a matter of a few weeks.

Source African Press Agency

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