Soaring inflation in Morocco is driving up living costs and stirring public anger, and as food prices increase the country’s export-led agricultural model is coming under fire.
Protesters on April 8 gathered outside Morocco’s parliament in the capital Rabat with some saying the rise in prices is a disgrace and they were an agricultural country, but vegetables are too expensive.
Official figures from February put year-on-year inflation in the North African country at just over 10 percent, a figure that also included a 20 percent jump in food prices.
The price of fresh produce in Morocco is almost as high as in some Western European supermarkets, but the minimum wage for Moroccans is just $300 (275 euros) a month.
Faced with growing criticism, Morocco’s Agriculture Minister Mohamed Sadiki attributed high food prices to ‘external and cyclical factors’ such as the rising cost of raw materials and a cold snap that delayed the picking of tomatoes.
Sadiki told a press conference in early April that despite the impact of climate factors such as drought, agriculture accounts for 13 percent of Morocco’s GDP and 14 percent of its exports.
Source: The East African
