The inflation rate in Morocco reached its highest level since 1991, reaching 8.9 percent on an annual basis in January of last year, driven by a significant increase in food prices in the country, according to official data released on Wednesday.
According to data from the Moroccan High Commission for Planning, this increase resulted from a 16.8 percent increase in food prices and a 9.6 percent increase in transportation costs.
While the government speaks about natural factors, pandemics, and the crisis in Ukraine as reasons for rising prices, various civil society groups agree that this increase and its associated deterioration in citizens’ purchasing power and overall economic deterioration are due to government mismanagement.
In this regard, the Secretary-General of the Moroccan Justice and Development Party and former Prime Minister, Benkirane, confirmed that the wave of high prices in Morocco “has reached a dangerous level that threatens social deterioration, unless the government intervenes to protect the purchasing power of citizens.”
The Moroccan people have responded to this disastrous mismanagement with continuous massive protests and demonstrations against the hysterical rise in prices, particularly for widely consumed goods, and against the authoritarianism of the Akhennouch government and its failure to fulfill its promises on all levels.
Last Monday, 45 Moroccan cities erupted in protest marches in response to the call of the “Moroccan Social Front” and many human rights, labor, and political organizations. Meanwhile, the government continues to rely on a policy of repression and to suppress peaceful demonstrators demanding legitimate living conditions.
In Rabat, protesters chanted slogans such as “enough of the high prices,” “the people want the release of the detainees,” “death or humiliation,” and “freedom and dignity.”
