If the trade union centers of road hauliers have opted for a strike from March 7 because of soaring fuel prices, employers are moving in the direction of dialogue and talks. Indeed, as part of the tripartite social dialogue, the Minister of Transport and Logistics, Mohamed Abdeljalil, met with unions and employers this week to reflect on the measures to be taken to deal with this increase.
Today, employers are in consultation and in talks with the government on the measures to be taken to deal with the soaring fuel prices on the national market, but also on the taxation and organization of the sector, which is experiencing a lot of informals.
In this sense, the Federation of Transport and Logistics (FTL) affiliated to the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) has put forward proposals ” serious to the government and which go in the direction of improving the competitiveness of transport companies, pending the return, in the short term, of the Minister of Transport with solutions.
Among these solutions, there is transport taxation and the organization of the supervisory ministry, confides Abdelillah Hifdi, president of the FTL and CGEM adviser to the Chamber of Advisors.
On the taxation side, the federation has proposed the implementation of the indexation mechanism, which establishes a certain transparency in contractual relations (company – customer) in transport.
” Between the time when the customer gives a transport order and the time when the company will carry it out, there has been a substantial variation in transport costs (diesel, etc.). The transporter, for example, puts an index out of 100. Diesel is bought at 30%. But when fuel increases, we also increase, and when it drops, we lower the CNR index (fuel cost index, excluding VAT). Then there will be no more problems. In addition, it is a measure that costs nothing to the State and which is likely to bring this peace of mind and this serenity in the relationship between the customer and the carrier.“, Hifdi explains to us.
According to the CGEM advisor, “ there is a diagnosis and an observation that the national economy does not pay the fair price for the transport service“. Carriers need more states and more regulation“, he notes, calling on the state to “ sets up the rules of the game by controlling them and imposing sanctions in the event of non-application“.
More than 60% of carriers operate informally
In addition, Abdelillah Hifdi evokes the tarnished image of the road haulier, who himself needs a certain road safety and a certain cohabitation with other users to restore his image. This image problem, he continues, is due to the fact that access to the profession is unregulated.
Reason why, he says, the FTL is working with the line ministry on this side “ organizational in addition to the access to the profession aspect given the plethora of carriers (invisible hand of the market, supply and demand, no regulation ..), hence the justification of the 60 to 70% informal that the sector“.
Second proposal put forward by the federation concerns the increase in VAT on diesel from 10 to 20%, but after constant, underlines the president of the FTL.
” Today when you invoice a customer, there is 14% VAT. For the VAT on the activity, it is suggested that it pass to 20%. The course between 14 and 20, that is to say the 6 points, corresponds to a large money supply“, he explains.
Given the lack of incentives in the transport sector, the CGEM adviser to the second chamber considers that these two measures ” are structuring for the sector and likely to be attractive in relation to the informal sector and even in relation to the DGI, since they will make it possible to broaden and improve the tax base, given the companies that will join in order to be able to benefit “.
Still with regard to VAT, Hifdi makes a small comparison between the VAT on diesel in Europe and that of Morocco. ” In Europe, it varies between 19.6 and 25%, which is why the European carrier is more efficient than the Moroccan flag at the international level, since it recovers 25% of the VAT. And it also has another mechanism which is called professional fuel“, he said, stressing that the latter is experiencing some difficulties in Morocco.
In short, Hifdi does not deny the problems facing the sector, but opts more for dialogue and consultation with the government for their resolution, noting that today, and with regard to workers in the sector, the royal shipyard of social protection will make it possible to solve many problems, particularly in terms of retirement, IPE (compensation for loss of employment), family allowances and AMO. A project that is underway with a 5-year program, that is to say by 2024.
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