The HCP prepares its transformation
When presenting the sectoral budget to the Finance Committee of the House of Councillors, Chakib Benmoussa seemed relieved of the imposing weight of his former Ministry of National Education.
Today, Chakib Benmoussa is at the head of the High Commissioner’s Office for Planning, which has a budget of 617.8 million Dirhams (USD 61.7 million) for 2025, a budget that has nothing to do with the tens of billions of Dirhams (billions of dollars) and 300,000-strong workforce of the Department of Education. It remains to be seen whether High Commissioner Chakib Benmoussa will manage to preserve the independence of this institution and distance himself from the RNI party, where he was a member of the political bureau. Will he continue, as his predecessor did, to publish reports independently of the influence of the majority? Opposition MPs asked these questions on the sidelines of the Finance Committee meeting. We’ll find out in the coming months.
In the meantime, the former minister has not lost sight of the Royal Government’s intention to carry out an in-depth reform of this institution, turning it into a strategic mechanism at the service of the country’s overall development.
-Strategic program: Given the nature of the work, which often extends over periods of more than a year, he presented a summary of the main activities on the work program for the period 2023-2024. All this is part of the implementation of the HCP’s 2022-2026 strategic program. This program has several thrusts, one of the most important of which is to support the implementation of the New Development Model (NMD). The NMD is considered a benchmark for measuring the achievement of sustainable development goals. In addition, the HCP’s strategic program includes strengthening the regional dimension of its statistical system and developing its economic and social analysis resources. It will also digitize its management model, modernize its website and strengthen its external partnerships.
-Standard of living: In 2024, the HCP also continued to carry out quarterly surveys on employment, household, business and production conditions. And the former minister cited several structural surveys. Chief among these was the national survey of household living standards. This year saw the completion of the data processing and analysis for this survey, as well as the preparation of a report on its preliminary results, to be published at the end of the second quarter of 2024. The national survey of non-profit institutions was also completed. This work has made it possible to update the data relating to these institutions and to identify the structural changes that have taken place in this sector.
Mohamed CHAOUI
