The Benkirane government calls for limited austerity measures to cope with the shortage of funds.
By Hassan Benmehdi for Magharebia in Casablanca – 13/09/12
[Hassan Benmehdi] Moroccan Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane is looking to rein in spending with the latest finance act.
The Moroccan government hopes to save 5 billion dirhams next year by introducing spending cuts.
Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane late last month unveiled the outlines of the 2013 Finance Act, which urges ministers to control spending on the running of their departments.The new finance act “is a vital stage in the process of creating a national development model”, Benkirane said in a memorandum sent to government ministers on August 29th.
“It is being drawn up amid a tough economic situation characterised by volatility in oil prices and raw materials at the international level and weak agricultural output at the national level,” he said.
The prime minister invited his colleagues to draw up a budget for 2013 that will make expenditure more efficient and streamlined, increase revenues and gradually restore macroeconomic balance.
He called on public servants to cut their budgets allocated for studying and foreign travel and refrain from renewing their fleets of cars or building homes or new offices.
In addition, the government will try to limit public-sector recruitment and maintain growth in at 3.4% this year.
The fact that GDP growth is still hovering around 3.5% due to the global economic crisis means that the problem of unemployment cannot be solved, argued financial expert Hichem Mellali.
“We must also recognise that the state is continuing with its social agenda in the areas of education, health and social housing, but at the same time, reforms to the subsidy system are at a standstill and the budget deficit is still proving difficult to control,” he told Magharebia.
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In the 2013 Finance Act, “the government plans to maintain the level of investment in social sectors including health, education and social housing”, according to the minister delegate responsible for the budget, Idriss Azami El Idrissi.
Small and medium enterprises “will receive help from the government to market their goods, especially at the international level” to boost their competitiveness, the official said in a press statement issued on August 29th.
The measures that have been put forward are based on top-priority objectives and were selected because of the significant impact they are expected to have on business competitiveness, employment and economic growth, said General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) chief Miriem Bensalah Chaqroun.
The CGEM has issued a document in which it underlined that the government has expressed willingness to meet the expectations of Moroccan company bosses in the 2013 Finance Act.
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