Rabat – The Ministries of Industry, of Agriculture, and of Energy published a clarification on an April 30 Official Bulletin listing sectors that are not considered to be in economic difficulty due to the pandemic. These sectors will not be able to benefit from financial support outlined in law 25.20.
Law 25.20, passed on April 16, allows the government to adopt exceptional measures to support businesses negatively affected by the pandemic. One of these measures allows workers whose employers submitted requests to the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) to receive compensation for their work from March 15 to June 30. The law also applies to fishermen who filed for unemployment with CNSS in February.
Although COVID-19 indisputably influences the Moroccan economy, the impact of the lockdown varies from one sector to the next. While tourism-related sectors entered a freefall, some other fields suffer less—or, on the contrary, flourish.
The Department of Industry adopted a list of six sectors that are exempt from the special measures: Agri-food products, medical and semi-medical products, and materials, chemicals, plastics, papers and cardboard, and the pharmaceutical field.
The Department of Energy considered the import, storage, and transport of hydrocarbons, as well as renewable energy-related work, as not as negatively affected by the pandemic and unfit to receive the exceptional governmental support.
The Ministry of Agriculture’s list may prove the most controversial. As much as flour, sugar, and dairy producers may approach the decision with understanding, the poultry sector will most likely not be pleased by the decree.
2020 is the fourth year in a row that Morocco’s poultry producers are becoming further indebted due to lowered demand for their products. COVID-19 and the subsequent plunge in demand caused by the catering sector’s closure forced some of the producers to liquidate parts of their stocks.
Most of the sectors excluded by the clarification have not stopped their activity during the global pandemic because they were deemed “essential” for the survival of the nation’s people and economy.