Published on : 09/04/2023 – 13:16

The Moroccan government under fire from critics. Demonstrations were organized on the evening of Saturday April 8 in different cities of Morocco to protest once morest soaring food prices, at the call of a coalition of left-wing parties.

In Casablanca, more than sixty people demonstrated their “fed up” once morest the high cost of living, Place Sraghna, in a working-class district of the city, noted an AFP journalist.

“I can’t take it anymore, life has become difficult because of rising prices,” said Fouad, 21, who took part in the protest at the call of the Social Front, a coalition of left-wing parties. and unions. “I feel that I have no more future”, added this young apprentice tailor.

“We denounce the policy of the government which had promised to be a government of the ‘social state’ but which turns out to be one of social disparities,” Abdelkader Amri, a member of the Confederation’s executive bureau, told AFP. Democratic Labor (CDT, left).

Groups of protesters also gathered in Rabat, Tangier and Marrakech.

“The rise in prices is a shame”, “Our country is agricultural but vegetables are expensive there”, chanted some sixty protesters gathered in front of Parliament, in the capital, reported an AFP journalist.

Galloping inflation in the middle of Ramadan

These events occur in a context of strong inflationary pressure. The Moroccan government is strongly criticized by the trade unions, the parliamentary opposition and the local media.

The inflation rate reached 9.4% in the first quarter of 2023 once morest 4% in the same period last year, according to the High Commission for Planning (HCP). This inflation is accentuated by the skyrocketing price of food products (+18.2%) in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, during which the level of consumption usually increases.

Growth rebounded to +3% in the first quarter of 2023, once morest +0.3% during the same period last year, according to the HCP.

At the same time, the Central Bank of Morocco (BAM) on March 21 raised its key rate by 50 basis points, to 3%, in order to curb the rise in prices which is affecting low-income and vulnerable households. This is the third time that the BAM has raised its key rate since September 2022.

A decision that goes once morest the government’s roadmap, which is banking on economic recovery.

With AFP