Inflation: Young People and the Art of Adapting

To cope with soaring food and fuel prices, many young Moroccans have discovered a new skill, particularly useful in this time of crisis, the ability to adapt. No more big expenses and now make way for new, inexpensive modes of consumption and savings… for those who can!

Tightening one’s belt again and again, opting for new, inexpensive modes of consumption where the smallest dirham counts, has become the norm in Morocco, where “crazy” inflation spares almost no sector.

And if there is one category of the population whose economic situation, boosted by the war in Ukraine and its cascade of price increases, has a heavy impact on purchasing power and consumption habits, it is the young people, henceforth, to consume differently.

“Cocooning”, where one transforms one’s home into a place protected from any form of threat of parasitic consumption, has never been so successful.

The new trends are “domestic” consumption and strictly necessary electronic purchases. Shopping for fun can wait! More and more of them do not find it “cool” to spend a lot of money.

This is the case for Rachid who declares that, over the past two months, he has reduced his consumption budget by 20%. Thus, this young executive in public administration, who is lucky enough to benefit from free public transport, no longer has lunch in restaurants, having “opted for another alternative: preparing food at home. It’s much more economical,” he rejoices.

You had to think about it! Compared to YN, a young mother – wishing to remain anonymous – who takes care of her children alone, the official seems less “troublesome”. “I bear all the school, clothing and household expenses, as well as the bills,” says our interlocutor.

Employed in the transport sector, this mother of two children is today riddled with “small debts”. And to continue, in a bitter tone, “I no longer take care of myself as before”.

Beyond this category of the population, households, in general, long deprived of certain expenses during confinement as well as the almost general closure of public places (shops, restaurants, cinemas, amusement parks), are more and more people are opting for these new modes of consumption, explains an expert.

But this extreme sobriety that some impose on themselves, renouncing, constrained and forced, the pleasures of mass consumption, has its limits. “It is true that at the moment, managing your budget is proving to be a bit difficult insofar as we are part of a generation that consumes fast-fashion excessively, it must be said!” admits Nadia (a alias), a 19-year-old journalism student.

“We would like to have healthier habits for us and for the planet but, unfortunately, our lifestyle imposes certain practices on us,” she adds.

For K. Boufous, who operates in the same sector, his budget has remained the same, despite the crisis. It is “always divided between the purchase of certain necessities (books, cosmetic products, clothing, etc.) and restaurants. It must be said that I don’t have time to cook at home since I am preparing a master’s degree alongside my work. It’s hard to have free time to cook!”.

Our colleague, who has been working for eight months, also sends part of her monthly salary to her mother “who lives alone, far from me”. And the rest, she says, is for savings. A cushion of financial security while waiting for a better tomorrow when the current level of inflation gives little reason to hope.

Over the next 12 months, 39.1% of households expect their standard of living to deteriorate, 43.3% to maintain it, and only 17.6% to improve, notes a recent economic report from the HPC.

According to the same note, the balance of opinion on the future evolution of the standard of living remained negative at minus 21.5 points, against minus 1.3 points in the previous quarter and 13.2 points in the same quarter of the year. past. At the same time, the survey shows that at the end of Q1-2022, 87.4% of households (against 4.6% of a contrary opinion) expect unemployment to rise over the next 12 months.

The balance of opinion thus remained negative, and even deteriorated to -82.8 points (against -77.6 points a quarter earlier and -62.2 points a year ago). More worryingly, one in two Moroccans would be in depression today, compared to one in three in 2020 and one in four in 2018.

Khadim Mbaye / ECO Inspirations