The first president of the Court of Auditors, Zineb El Adaoui, recently warned against the deficit of the pension systems in Morocco. Indeed, she pointed out that the deficit of the Moroccan Pension Fund (CMR) amounted to 5.12 billion dirhams, while the reserves fell to reach 65.84 billion dirhams, i.e. an estimated drop of 10.7 billion. She called for the firmness and acceleration of pension system reform projects.
During a joint plenary session of the two Chambers of Parliament, which was held on Tuesday to present a presentation on the actions of the Court of Auditors for the year 2021, Zineb El Adaoui also revealed that the deficit of the collective system granting pensions amounted to approximately 3.95 billion dirhams, while the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) recorded a deficit of 400 million dirhams.
El Adaoui, however, stressed that the national economy had shown certain elements of resilience in the face of the exceptional circumstances that the world is going through. At the end of 2022, there was an improvement in tax revenues which increased by 17.4% compared to 2021, as well as an increase in non-tax resources of 28.9%. This made it possible to cover the increase in expenses.
Also, the first president of the Court of Auditors indicated that the Treasury deficit was relatively under control, since it continued its downward trend to settle at the equivalent of 5.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), an improvement of around 0.4% compared to 2021.
According to the same official, the share of total Treasury debt in relation to gross domestic product (GDP) increased from 68.9% to 96.8% between 2021 and 2022, pointing out that the domestic component dominates the debt structure. with a share of 75.9%, while the external debt represents 24.1%.
In addition, the cost of imports has increased, El Adaoui pointed out, noting that the good performance of exports has improved by 30.01%, and remittances by Moroccans around the world (MRE) have increased. to 110.7 billion dirhams, up 16%, in addition to the gradual recovery in travel receipts, which recorded a surplus of around 74 billion dirhams. All this helped to control the balance of performance, the manager pointed out.
The national economy also maintained its attractiveness to foreign investment, and the net flow of foreign direct investment increased by 6.8%, in addition to maintaining Morocco’s hard currency reserves at comfortable levels, rising about 5 months and 13 days of imports of goods and services, she pointed out.
Also, Morocco has faced strong inflationary pressures. Zineb El Adaoui confirmed that it reached 6.6% at the national level in 2022 under the influence of the rise in the prices of energy and food products and the acceleration of inflation in the main trading partners. In addition, the official pointed out that the overall rate of inflation in Morocco remains below the levels recorded in neighboring and comparable countries such as Egypt which records 13.8%, as well as certain emerging economies such as Brazil which records 9.3% and India 6.7%.