Budget: Surprise Surplus | L’Economiste

This is the surprise of the first quarter and it comes from the General Treasury of the Kingdom. The budget shows a surplus of 6.27 billion MAD at the end of March compared to a deficit of 1.9 billion MAD recorded in the same period last year.

This situation is not likely to last long. Major projects and reforms related to the sectors of health, education, and social security are planned this year and require significant funding, all of it without forgetting the uncertainties surrounding the global economy. In any case, the government expects the good performance of tax and non-tax revenues and forecasts a budget deficit of 4.5% versus 4.7% according to forecasts of the central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib. In an environment marked by soaring inflation , ordinary revenue increased by 11% while expenditure grew by 3.1%. The good performance of revenues is due to the increase in tax revenues by 5% and non-tax revenues by 154.4%. These reached 7.8 billion dirhams under the effect of the increase in payments from special Treasury accounts to the general budget, revenue from monopolies and support funds (Support funds are, in public finance , funds from the general budget that derogate from the budgetary principle of universality).

At the same time, revenue generated by debt spending mitigation declined.

Tax receipts were marked by the increase in customs duties by 14.2%, of domestic consumption taxes by 4.8%, and of VAT by 6.3%. Revenues from income tax increased by 5.6 % and those from the corporate tax fell by only 0.5% to stand at 22.7 billion dirhams. But even with this slight decline, the Corporate Tax remains the leading contributor to the general budget for the 1st quarter. This tax underwent a major reform this year. It consists of the gradual convergence towards unified taxation rates over a four-year period. This should ensure visibility and stability for investors. The target rates will be applied from January 1, 2027 onwards.

Between now and then, taxation rates will be gradually increased or reduced, as the case may be, for each fiscal year, for the period ranging from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2026. This first quarter was characterized by the decline of more than half of expenditure related to subsidies for basic foodstuffs ( minus 55.2%) due to the reduction in the price of gas and wheat. Tax refunds and reliefs charged to the general budget also decreased by 10.4%. This is attributed in particular to the drop of 1.1 billion dirhams in refunds of VAT within the country to reach 2.36 billion dirhams. This being said, the overall amount of VAT reimbursements within the country, including the part relating to local authorities, reached 3.3 billion dirhams versus 4.95 billion a year earlier. On the other hand, corporate tax refunds increased by 118.1% to reach 710 million Dirhams.

Khadija MASMOUDI