An amount of 75.31 million dirhams will be devoted annually to insured persons of the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) affected by the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic, indicated the Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business , employment and skills, Younes Sekkouri.
This financial cost will be taken into consideration in the general reform of the pension system and the CNSS, he added on Saturday in a speech on the occasion of Workers’ Day.
The Minister underlined that the salary calculation basis will also be revised on the basis of which the right to retirement is granted for all insured persons with the CNSS affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, in allowing in particular those who retired between February 2020 and December 2021 to benefit from it, specifying that the number of employees affected by the pandemic and not having benefited from the monthly allowance of 2000 DH is 81,060 people.
Similarly, the government has undertaken, within the framework of social dialogue, to raise the minimum wage by 10% in the sectors of industry, commerce, the liberal professions and services, specifying that this increase will be implemented on two tranches, 5% from 1 September and 5% after the revision of certain provisions of the Labor Code.
He also announced the gradual unification of the legal minimum wage between the sectors of industry, commerce, the liberal professions and the agricultural sector, through the raising of the minimum wage by 10% in the agricultural sector consecutively in 2022. and 2023, and 5% between 2024 and 2028, adding that there will be an increase of 100 dirhams in the value of family compensation for the fourth, fifth and sixth children.
In addition, the guaranteed minimum agricultural wage in Morocco (SMAG) will increase by 10% from September 2022, with a view to aligning it with the guaranteed minimum interprofessional wage (SMIG) in the sectors of industry, commerce and liberal professions by 2028, said the Minister.
Mr. Sekkouri said that there will be a gradual unification of the minimum wage with an annual increase of 5% each year of the (SMAG) for the agricultural sector until 2028, noting that each increase in the SMIG planned for sectors of industry, commerce and the liberal professions is added to that of 5% mentioned above.
And to explain that this step will be taken by reducing the condition for benefiting from the old-age pension from 3,240 days of affiliation to 1,320 days and by allowing the insured, who has reached the legal retirement age and has less than 1,320 days of affiliation, to recover the share of employee and employer contributions, noting that these two elements will be included in the proposals for a comprehensive approach to pension reform.
Currently, it is compulsory to provide at least 3,240 days of contributions to benefit from the old-age pension for employees subject to social security who have reached retirement age.
As for policyholders who do not have 3,240 days of contributions, the Minister highlighted the possibility of benefiting from the recovery of employee contributions relating to policyholders who have reached retirement age without having reached 3,240 days of contributions to the CNSS, as well as the possibility of subscribing to optional insurance with proof of registration in the compulsory scheme for at least 1,080 days.
Thus, the number of beneficiaries is 60% of people who are retired, said the minister, stressing that the financial cost will be taken into account in the overall reform of the CNSS pension system.
.