Pandemic crisis, Ukraine-Russia war, drought and inflation, the purchasing power of Moroccans seems to have entered an endless vicious cycle now that prices keep rising almost every month.
These successive events, the first of which occurred in 2020, imposed an uncontrollable evolution of prices at the level of the national as well as international economy, beating the record of previous years.
In a recently published informative note, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) revealed an increase in the consumer price index in August compared to the month preceding it, i.e. an increase of 0.3 % following the 1.5% increase in the food index versus a 0.5% drop recorded in terms of non-food products. In just one year, the inflation indicator has climbed to 6.6%.
According to the HCP, the food growth observed over the July-August 2022 period mainly concerns fruit reaching 9.6%, fish and seafood (2.2%), dairy products (1.4%), and vegetables (1.1%).
Inflation also affected other products among the most used in Morocco, namely coffee, tea and cocoa with an increase of 1.1%, meat (1.0%), oils and fats (0. 5%), sugar, jam, honey, chocolate and confectionery (0.4%).
The rise began in the first month of 2021 but continued to evolve above the average for the last decade from February 2022, after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The prices of breads and cereals had reached 13.2% in this episode associated with the Ukrainian crisis.
For non-food products, the most significant increase was recorded at the level of fuels and lubricants, the price of diesel at the pump also skyrocketed, exceeding the level of 11 dh per liter. The price per barrel rose to around $140.
Several categories, young people, civil servants, employees or the unemployed, have been affected by these massive increases, reducing their purchasing power. In a survey called “Market Insights” conducted by Synergia at the beginning of the year, 1,039 participants were questioned to obtain more details on the impact of multiple events on the almost radical change in their purchasing power.
It should be remembered that this was done well before the current war, and had already given a small idea of the difficulties encountered without it being involved.
According to the survey, the most vulnerable social class is that which has experienced a drop in purchasing power at a rate of 69%, and 15% indicated that purchasing power has remained the same. Unlike the rest of the class, only 45% regretted the drop, while 40% felt there was no change.