The high-level interministerial commission in charge of monitoring the state of supply of national markets, held Thursday at the headquarters of the Ministry of Interior in Rabat, its second meeting on the monitoring of prices of basic foodstuffs as well as the framing and strengthening of interventions of control services.
Composed of the Ministers of Interior, Economy and Finance, Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Industry and Trade and the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, the Commission considered, during its meeting, ways to implement the various measures necessary to meet the needs of the domestic market and ensure a sufficient and regular stock of all commodities, in addition to measures to preserve consumer safety and purchasing power.
In a statement to the press, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohamed Seddiki, said that this meeting was devoted to the evaluation of the modes of implementation of measures taken by the government to avoid the price hike, ensuring that the national market is supplied “continuously” in basic commodities.
He also explained that the rise in prices of some food products by, among other things, the high cost of production as well as climatic hazards, predicting a drop in prices during this spring with the abundant harvest of some vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes.
Referring, moreover, to the balance to achieve between the supply of the domestic market and exports, the Minister said that priority is always given to the domestic market as evidenced by the ban on exports of tomatoes decreed for weeks.
He also said that the control commissions will accompany the sales operations in wholesale markets and manufacturing units of certain products whose prices have soared and this, he stressed, to achieve equivalence between the domestic price of raw materials used in these products and that prevailing on the international market.
For his part, the Minister of Industry and Trade, Riyad Mezzour, said that this second meeting of the commission was an opportunity to examine “ways and innovative solutions to address the soaring prices of food in order to maintain the purchasing power of citizens”.
He reported, in this regard, new solutions that are reviewed daily, noting that the prices of some products will remain unchanged in the weeks and months ahead while some prices are already beginning to decline as is the case of tomatoes.
The Minister of Economy and Finance, Nadia Fettah said that the products generally very consumed in the month of Ramadan are in sufficient quantity in national markets, noting that the volume of production expected in the coming days will certainly have a positive impact on prices.
The Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali, said that this meeting was an opportunity to highlight the structural reforms necessary to solve the problems causing price increases, especially in wholesale markets.
Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse