MOROCCO, July 28 - Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah, said on Wednesday in Rabat that the growth of the Moroccan economy is expected to slow down to 1.5% in 2022, against 3.2% initially forecasted in this year's appropriation bill.

Fettah, who gave before the Committee on Finance and Economic Development in the House of Representatives a presentation on "the implementation of the Budget 2022 and the three-year budget programming 2023-2025", explained that this slowdown is due to the decline in foreign demand for Morocco, especially from the euro area and the decline in the cereal harvest.

In this regard, the Minister noted that at the international level, global economic growth forecasts for 2022 have been revised downward, due to the war in Ukraine, which has led to an increase in commodity prices and disruption of global supply chains, as well as an exacerbation of inflationary pressures and the increase in interest rates by central banks around the world.

Regarding the most important developments related to the national economy, Fettah referred to the delay in rainfall at the beginning of the agricultural season that led to a significant decline in the grain harvest, the great recovery of the tourism and transport sectors after the opening of air borders, in addition to the disparate results in other sectors after returning to their levels before the health crisis.

The Minister added that the inflation rate should exceed 5.3% in 2022, against 1.4 in 2021, due to an increase in food prices of 7.8% and non-food products of 3.4%.

MAP 27 July 2022