Page 1 - Weekly highlights 6772

VEND.24, SAM. 25 & DIM. 26 MAI 2024 - N°6772 NE PEUT ÊTRE VENDU SÉPARÉMENT DÉPÔT LÉGAL 100/1991 DIRECTEUR DE PUBLICATION KHALID BELYAZID
Weekly highlights by

Subsidizing butane gas Operation Crossing the

Strait 2024: Morocco
A taboo finally
and Spain all set

broken A new life for La

Casablancaise des Sports

Medical cannabis
Potential revenues of
600 million USDs by 2028

Final preparations for
the sacred music festival
n 50 DH per 12 kg n The reform n Direct social assistance,

cylinder, 12.5 DH progressive wage increase, IR reform...

that 3.5 kg completed in 2026 the counterpart

Editorial Collateral victims Mohamed Ali MRABI

S OME decisions are hard to take, but are essential if we are to rectify unte- power and guarantee social peace. However, this public aid mechanism has
nable sit-uations. The removal of the butane gas price subsidies is one of been misused to serve the interests of people or entities who are not in need. The
them. Admittedly, it is a measure that may be interpreted as unpopular, wealthiest social class absorbed 27% of this support. The most disadvantaged
but which is fully justified on an economic level, or even by some logic. For class, on the other hand, received just 14%. This fully justifies the paradigm shift
decades, public subsidies for the price of butane gas have represented a financial initiated a few years ago, replacing price subsidies with direct aid.
abyss swallowing up billions of Dirhams (hundred million USDs), which do not Nonetheless, in this process, one must keep in mind the goal of equity that should
always benefit the poorest popula-tions. The Government can no longer afford guide the new approach. Hence the importance of continuing to fine-tune the
these losses. tar-geting system, by tackling the teething problems (in particular by ironing out
The statistics are there to remind us. Between 2015 and 2023, more than 174 the problems identified with scoring). Above all, it is important to avoid doubly
bil-lion MAD (USD 17 billion) were absorbed by support for butane gas, sugar, pe-nalizing certain categories, already in a vulnerable position, by depriving
and flour (two other subsidized products). Originally, the aim of price subsidies them of both price subsidies and direct assistance, thus making them collateral
was to avoid volatility in commodity prices, in order to preserve purchasing victims of the system. o