Morocco: The government will start completing the clearing reform series during the next year

The new government, led by Aziz Akhannouch, will begin, starting next year (2022), to gradually lift subsidies on gas, sugar and flour, as part of the process of reforming the clearing fund, which aims to liberalize prices and reduce government spending on these materials, which burden the budget. The 2022 draft budget allocated 16 billion dirhams to subsidize the prices of butane gas, sugar and soft wheat flour. The cost of butane gas subsidies during the first three quarters of the current year (2021) amounted to 9.9 billion dirhams, compared to 6.9 billion dirhams during the same period last year (2020). In 2019, Morocco allocated about 2.4 percent of public expenditures to subsidize butane gas, which is the highest proportion of liquefied petroleum gas subsidies in public spending at the global level. Mohamed Benchaaboun, Minister of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform in the previous government, had confirmed that the government had set among the priorities of the ...