The Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fattah Alaoui responded strongly to the opposition’s criticism and skepticism about the growth assumptions and expectations in the draft finance law for the year 2024, as she confirmed that the government, despite the difficult circumstance, renews its real commitments towards all segments of society, and faces the challenges posed by this circumstance.
The Minister of Finance said in the plenary session for presenting the Finance Committee’s report and discussing the first part of the draft finance law in the House of Representatives, today, Tuesday, during her response to opposition representatives, that “considering a growth rate in the range of 3.4 percent as an unreasonable hypothesis comes because we forget to compare it with Europe. The first partner for Morocco to record a growth rate of 0.7 percent.”
Addressing opposition representatives, Fattah added: “We also forget to compare this percentage with successive years of drought, in which the percentage of grain production was below the required level,” stressing that the government is committed to the program it promised.
The same government official added: “We are interacting with a circumstance that no one was expecting, and we should not hide behind it. Rather, we are interacting with it and providing the necessary solutions to confront its effects,” stressing that the government is determined to confront the challenges it faces and find the necessary solutions to them.
Fattah also stressed that the achievements achieved by the government on the health and social levels “cannot be denied,” considering that “the burden brought by the Finance Law highlights the government’s determination to follow the social and economic dynamism of our country,” and added: “The project has an integrated vision and engineering,” the opposition’s demand. When interpreting procedures, it is necessary to link them to the strategy stated in the Finance Law.
The Minister indicated that the requirements contained in the draft finance law for next year “are a real response to the demands of Moroccans and are based on all the directives mentioned in the royal speeches,” adding: “We are continuing to implement the government program, and citizens are happy with the direct support they will receive.”
The government official called on the representatives to “work to interpret the direct social support architecture so that it is transparent and fair and will guarantee dignity for Moroccans, because they are government obligations and we will fulfill them.” She also reassured Moroccans that “the government is keen on the effective and transparent implementation of these programs.”
Regarding expanding the tax base, Fattah recorded that “the government is clear on this issue, and the tax administration is ready to cooperate in it,” continuing: “Whoever has good intentions is welcome, and whoever cheats and benefits from unstructured companies and does not pay taxes, we tell him we are coming and you will pay the taxes that are in Your responsibility,” considering this measure to be the strongest part of the project.
The same minister also indicated that the rise in tax revenues is “a positive indicator and shows that there is dynamism in the economy, and that there is effective consumption and integration of groups that have begun to pay taxes,” adding that everyone should know that paying taxes is a “national duty.”
The opposition groups had directed sharp criticism at the draft finance law for the year 2024, as they confirmed that they would vote against it, considering that it “does not respond to the extent of the aspirations and expectations that the country knows,” which required the Minister of Economy and Finance to respond.
In a heated speech, Abdul Rahim Shahid, head of the Socialist Team – the Federal Opposition, harshly criticized the government over the draft finance law for next year, accusing it of “manipulating numbers.”
Shahid said: “With regard to the hypotheses and expectations of the project, unfortunately, the numbers during the past two years on the level of deficit, growth, and inflation were not successful, and we wonder whether this year’s numbers will be correct,” considering that “the growth rate does not help the government in achieving the number that the Prime Minister said, as he stressed that we We cannot go below 4 percent, and the government does not hesitate, because the development model talks about the necessity of exceeding the number by at least four points.”
The same spokesman continued, criticizing: “The expected growth rates cannot accommodate the annual arrivals to the labor market, especially in front of the figures of the High Commission for Planning on the labor market,” stressing that “the stubborn reality figures contradict the rosy rhetoric that we listen to from the mouth of the government and members of the government majority.”
The head of the Socialist Team added: “The government has its own virtual reality and virtual numbers, and the allied parties have their own reality that they imagine, in the form of rosy dreams during the electoral campaign,” recalling that his party had previously warned against “the consequences of raising slogans and dreamy promises that have been proven incapable of fulfilling them.”