The Moroccan government is moving towards launching a national plan to provide a strategic stockpile of basic materials, in order to respond to the internal market and ensure adequate food and energy supplies, in light of the instability in global markets due to the Ukraine war and the consequences of the crisis that followed the Corona pandemic.
Moroccan government spokesman, Mustapha Baitas, revealed Thursday in Rabat that the strategic stockpile of basic materials “needs the preparation of new public policies and the allocation of funds to ensure production control.”
The government official, in response to a question about the government’s strategy to provide reserves of fuel and wheat, stressed that “the availability of a strategic stock of basic materials, in light of the high prices of all relevant materials, whether imported or locally produced, will be very difficult, and will require new public policies and new financing.” .
Providing a strategic stockpile of basic materials would ensure Morocco’s independence from the economic pitfalls the world is going through, and distance it from conflicts of interests and international crises.
proactive vision
Commenting on the issue, Tayeb Ais, a financial and economic expert, said that Morocco has developed a proactive plan for years to provide a stock of basic materials, as it has put in place laws that oblige actors in sectors that affect the citizen, for example, Morocco currently has a grain stock equivalent to four months , supervised by the National Office of Cereals and Cotton. The authorities have also put in place a law obligating fuel companies to provide 60 days of stocks of gasoline and diesel.
The expert confirmed in a statement to “Sky News Arabia” that “the abundance of goods is the first thing that must be worked on by the government, and then determine the mechanisms for setting appropriate prices for each product.”
The speaker gave the example of “table oil that was not recently available in European stores, while Morocco had large quantities of it, despite its high price.”
Ais pointed out that “Morocco achieves sufficiency in a number of foodstuffs, and it also produces significant quantities of grain, so that its production exceeded 105 million kantars last year, compared to about 30 million kantars expected during the current year, which was affected by the unprecedented drought that Morocco experienced. “.
Diverse business relationships
In addition to the sufficiency that Morocco achieves through its internal production of foodstuffs, the Kingdom is commercially linked to a number of countries producing grains, legumes, vegetables, fruits and oils.
In this regard, the economic expert, Al-Tayeb Ayas, confirmed to “Sky News Arabia” that Morocco has distinguished relations with a number of countries, enabling it to obtain foodstuffs from all over the world. In addition to Ukraine and Russia, Morocco has strong trade relations with France, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, which are among the grain-producing countries that may constitute an alternative to Ukraine in the current situation as a source of a number of foodstuffs that the Moroccan citizen needs.
As for energy supplies, the spokesman adds, Morocco has good relations with its brothers in the Persian Gulf region, which is considered one of the largest energy-producing regions in the world.
Ownership Instructions
King Mohammed VI had previously called for the need to create an integrated national system related to the strategic stockpile of basic materials, especially food, health and energy, and to work on the continuous updating of national needs, in a way that enhances the strategic security of the country.
In a speech addressed to members of Parliament on the occasion of the opening of the first session of the first legislative year of the eleventh term (October 2021), the King said that if Morocco had managed to manage its needs and provide markets with basic materials, in sufficient quantities and in a normal way, many of Countries recorded significant imbalances in the provision and distribution of these materials.
The King stressed that the epidemiological crisis showed the return of sovereignty issues to the fore and the race to immunize them, in their various health, energy, industrial, food, and other dimensions, with the intolerance that accompanies this on the part of some.
In a related context, government spokesman Mustafa Baytas said, during the seminar that followed the last government council, that the government has worked hard, since King Mohammed VI’s call for the creation of an integrated national system related to the strategic stockpile of basic materials, to crystallize an integrated vision in this regard, noting that “Putting this concept into reality will take time.”