Rabat – The Moroccan cabinet adopted, during its weekly meeting on Thursday, the 2012 appropriation bill draft which seeks to achieve a 4.2% growth rate and reduce the budget deficit to 5%, and provides for 93.5 billion dirhams for salaries.
Communication Minister, government spokesperson Mostapha El Khalfi said, at a press briefing following the meeting, that the said draft lays provisions for supporting social development programs by earmarking 51 billion dirhams to education, 12 bln dirhams to health, 3 bln dirhams to housing, 2.6 bln dirhams for opening up rural regions, one bln dirhams for the Fund for Rural Development, and 2.3 bln dirhams for the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH).
Referring to the social welfare fund, he said that 2 billion dirhams were allocated to the program of medical care generalization, the assistance for the disabled and the costs of school dropout, adding that up to 1.5 of the funding is by enterprises making a profit of over 200 million dirhams, which will generate 1.2 billion dirhams, in addition to 350 million dirhams (insurance fund) and 1.6% of the tax on cigarettes.
He underlined that 188 billion dirhams were mobilized for public investment.
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