Fuel, vegetables, meat… Bubbling prices!

Fuel prices at the pump resumed their surge at service stations. This increase did not leave MPs unmoved, who demanded explanations from the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development. Leila Benali’s response was not to the liking of the elected members of the First Chamber.

«Fuel prices do not fall within the prerogatives of my Ministry”, replied the Minister, during last Monday’s session in the House of Representatives. Leila Benali’s statement aroused the anger of MPs. This Wednesday, the posted prices remained very high. Their domino effect on food products is remarkable. In Casablanca, the price of tomatoes varies from 10 to 12 Dirhams. Onions were not spared. They are sold at 10 or even 12 Dirhams per kilo. The price of potatoes, the most popular product, is also experiencing a meteoric rise. Red meats are no exception. The price per kilo in butcher shops is well over 100 Dirhams.

The situation is described as critical by the National Federation of Consumer Associations (FNAC). This organization does not hide its concern about a new surge in prices as the month of Ramadan approaches.

For the president of FNAC, the Government must “find a solution to protect the purchasing power of consumers”.

Faced with soaring prices, the Government brandishes the card of subsidies granted to transport professionals, the suspension of customs duties, as well as the exemption from VAT for the import of cattle, these measures being supposed to supply the local market but also to curb this uptrend. However, these measures remain vain, to date.

Questions then arise: will these government decisions have a real impact on the price of food products? Will the consumer benefit from these measures or will these measures only benefit the professionals?

“These measures will only benefit their beneficiaries who will get richer”, replied the president of the National Federation of Consumer Associations. The impact on the consumer, he added, is not actually palpable.

So how to act? In this field, two options do emerge. First, ensuring control over the intermediaries. The latter are pointed out in particular by the Moroccan Interprofessional Federation for the Production and Export of Fruits and Vegetables (FIFEL). “Tomatoes are sold at 3.50 Dirhams per kilo on the wholesale market. Consumers buy them at 12 Dirhams. It is speculation by intermediaries which is at the origin of this increase”, specifies Ahmed Mouflih, Executive Director of the FIFEL, in a declaration granted to L’Economiste.

The situation is such that the Wali, Secretary General of the Interior Ministry, Mohamed Fawzy, held a meeting last Tuesday in Rabat with representatives of several departments. The watchword was clear: ensure price control and monitoring of the supply of the markets with essential food products, particularly those most consumed during the month of Ramadan. According to the authorities, “measures will be taken at the level of the regions, prefectures, and provinces, to intensify the quality control of food products and their prices, in order to deal with practices that harm citizens”. Thus, joint local commissions will be set up to control food products, supervised by the walis or governors.

Khadija Skalli