São Paulo – The government of Morocco announced this week that it is going to double the capital in its compensation fund, used to subsidise the prices of some basic products. The information was disclosed by news agency Panapress.
According to the agency, the measure should be taken to face the appreciation of primary need goods, especially food. In the list of items that the government of Morocco subsidises to the population are gas, sugar and flour.
The government should add another 17 billion dirham (US$ 2.04 billion) to the fund, whose initial budget was estimated at 15 billion dirham (US$ 1.8 billion) in 2011. The objective is to avoid expansion of inflation and protests.
The government of Morocco also agreed to proceed with the policy for subsidies to basic products to avoid further increases. Last year, inflation in Morocco was low, at 2.5%. In 2009, however, it was even lower, at 1%, according to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
The Arab country is not a producer of oil and has great part of its income connected to the service sector, like tourism. The country also generates revenues from agriculture and semi-manufactured products. In industry, processed items include textile products and food. The country is also a producer of phosphates.
*Translated by Mark Ament
