State budget loses annually over $ 600 million as a result of smuggling

General manager of the Moroccan customs and indirect taxes, Abderrazak Moussadak, said the state budget is loosing an annual seven billion Dirhams (US$ 608 million) as a result of smuggling.

The official said goods smuggled from Sebta and Melilia, two Moroccan northern towns still under Spanish rule, are worth 15 billion DH annually (US$ 1.3 Bln).

The only solution to this problem lies in developing the Moroccan northern region and fostering people awareness on the dangers of this phenomenon which cripples the national economy, Moussadak told a group of Moroccan and foreign economic operators at a meeting here.

The meeting, sponsored by the French chamber of commerce and industry, was held on the topic "prospects of amending the customs tariffs in the perspective of the Morocco-EU free-trade zone."