A coalition of left-wing parties called for protests over the rising cost of food, and they were held on Saturday night in several Moroccan cities.
A journalist from AFP reported that more than sixty individuals in Casablanca demonstrated their “fed up” against the high expense of living at the Sraghna square in a popular neighborhood of the megalopolis.
“I can’t take it anymore, life has become painful because of the price increase,” said Fouad, 21, who took part in the demonstration called by the Social Front, a coalition of left-wing parties and trade unions.
“I feel that I have no future,” added this young apprentice tailor.
We denounce the policy of the government which promised to be a government of the “social state” but which turns out to be one of social disparities,” Abdelkader Amri, member of the executive board of the Democratic Confederation of Labor (CDT, left), told AFP.
Groups of demonstrators also gathered in Rabat, Tangier or Marrakech.
“The price hike is a disgrace”, “our country is agricultural but vegetables are expensive” chanted some sixty protesters gathered in front of the parliament in the capital, reported an AFP journalist.
The demonstrations coincide with a spike in inflation that puts the administration under pressure from the parliamentary opposition, labor unions, and local media.
The substantial increase in food costs (+18.2%) in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan, when consumption is typically higher, has exacerbated this inflation.
According to the HCP, growth increased to +3% in the first quarter of 2023 from +0.3% in the same time in 2018.
On March 21, the Central Bank of Morocco increased its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 3% in an effort to slow the rate of price growth that was negatively affecting low-income and vulnerable families.
Since September 2022, the BAM has increased its key rate three times.
This choice runs counter to the government’s plan for the kingdom’s economic revival.
