Poverty worsens in Morocco, call for action on several fronts
Morocco, Economics, 2/15/2002

Nearly 5.5 million Moroccans live below the poverty line at present, compared to 4.2 million in 1998.

The figures were disclosed by Moroccan minister of employment, vocational training, social development and solidarity, Abbas El-Fassi, Thursday. El Fassi, who was giving a lecture on "politics and the government's social programs" at the Law school in Settat, 170 to the south-east of Rabat, related the increase in poverty to the drought that affected the country for three consecutive years, to the hike in oil prices and to the educational system that does not match training to the employment market needs.

The official, who surveyed the action of the alternation government -that was formed in 1998, putting an end to about 40 years of right-wing rule-conceded "a lack of communication" mainly with the citizens. He deplored the "lack of control on the use of public money" since 1963 and said the Alternation cabinet inherited public institutions that are on the verge of bankruptcy.

Touching on the cabinet's achievements, El-Fassi said unemployment rate decreased by 1.2 percent during the first nine months of 2001 compared to the same period in 2000, as the rate went down from 14.2 percent to 13 percent. The unemployment rate that neared 22.4 percent in the urban milieu in 2000 dropped to 19.5 percent in 2001. Unemployment among high degree-holders also dropped from 31.1 per cent in 2000 to 26.8 percent in 2001, the official said, insisting that the state cannot be the major job-provider and that the private sector should play a key role in this regard. El-Fassi also spoke about investments saying that the investor is requesting the moralization of public life, and the reform of the administration, the tax system and the real-estate regulations.

He lauded in this regard the moves initiated by King Mohammed VI to give incentives to investments through decentralization as it came in the royal letter on investments addressed to the Prime Minister. In the same vein, the official underlined the need to consecrate democracy in settling Morocco's economic and social problems and to see to it that the coming legislative elections be "free and honest." The elections are scheduled for next september.

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