The world is not immune to a global food crisis, due to the repercussions of Dame Covid and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine, said Abdellatif Jouahri, Wali of Bank Al-Maghrib, during a a symposium organized with the International Monetary Fund in Rabat.
Abdellatif Jouahri who was speaking in a pre-recorded video speech, indicated that the World Bank estimates that between 75 and 96 million additional people will live in extreme poverty in 2022. The Wali of BAM mentioned that the outbreak of the The conflict in Ukraine had clouded the outlook for the global economy, as there was hope for an eventual return to normal life after the easing of health restrictions and the remarkable progress of vaccination campaigns.
According to Abdellatif Jouahri, developed and developing countries are experiencing a very complicated and difficult situation due to the effects of the conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the health crisis. Also and in order to cope with the acceleration of inflation towards levels that the world has not seen for decades, Abdellatif Jouahri said that central banks face a real dilemma, because they are confronted with the option of tightening monetary policy and thus curbing the economy, or favoring a management position with the risk of further price increases.
The Wali of BAM pointed out that in addition to the slowdown in economic growth, governments are facing increasing social demands and pressures to support purchasing power, knowing that their budgetary margins have been greatly reduced due to of the health crisis with very high debt levels and increasingly difficult financing conditions.
Abdellatif Jouahri listed a number of challenges that the world must face and to which many others can be added, linked in particular to ” the persistence of disruptions in supply chains and the profound changes that were at work long before the health crisis and which it has accelerated. These are in particular digitalization, the rise of economic sovereignty, the questioning of multilateralism and the requirements in the fight against climate change. The whole world order is being reshaped according to economic and geopolitical interests. “.
The Wali of BAM stressed that Morocco is not immune to the effects of this difficult international environment, and stressed that the national economy, which thanks to exceptional mobilization at all levels, has been able to largely exceed the health crisis, recording a rebound of nearly 8% in 2021.
However, and like everywhere else, it is suffering the consequences of the war in Ukraine, with in particular an increase in the energy bill and strong external pressure on consumer prices. Abdellatif Jouahri indicated that BAM has decided to maintain the exceptional measures deployed during the health crisis, so as not to slow down the economic recovery, but at the same time vigilance with regard to price trends is required.
It is expected in this regard, he warned, that inflation will be slightly above 5% in the current year, and should return to a more moderate level next year.
Abdellatif Jouahri further underlined the need to be prepared to deal with crises and difficult circumstances and considered that one of the main difficulties faced by decision-makers in many countries of the world, in particular developing countries, during the pandemic, is the availability of detailed information and timely data to assess the impact and provide economic and social responses.
It should be noted that the symposium organized between Bank Al-Maghrib, the International Monetary Fund and the Fund’s economic magazine (IMF Economic Review conference), on June 23 and 24, addresses the theme ” Transformational recovery: Seizing the opportunities offered by the crisis (Transformational Recovery: Seizing Opportunities from the Crisiss)”, in which researchers, managers, experts and academics will participate. This meeting is part of the preparations for the annual meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund to be held in Marrakech in October of the year 2023.
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