Markets, protests and healthcare: Weekly Risk Watch

Welcome to this week’s edition of our Weekly Risk Watch, offering insights into the economic, political, and security updates that could have significant implications for your business or daily life.

Economy and markets:

• Live Cattle Export Suspended: Spanish authorities halted exports of live cattle to Morocco after detecting an outbreak of lumpy skin disease in Europe, a contagious viral infection affecting cows.

Risk Factor: This suspension could disrupt cattle supply chains in Morocco and affect livestock trade.

• Record Gold Prices: Global gold prices surpassed $3,900 an ounce, prompting both investor interest and warnings from local jewelers about declining demand.

Risk Factor: Rising gold prices could reduce consumer purchases and deepen stagnation in Morocco’s jewelry sector.

Political stability:

• Urban Vandalism in Casablanca: Security forces in Ain Sebaa–Hay Mohammadi launched a large-scale operation after a masked gang vandalized over 40 parked vehicles, causing panic in the Khallil neighborhood.

Risk Factor: The involvement of around 60 masked individuals, including minors, raises concerns over public safety.

• Shock Offers: The Moroccan Consumer Protection Observatory warned of a surge in food products sold at suspiciously low prices in stores and online, particularly on Instagram and TikTok, often close to expiry or of unknown origin.

Risk Factor: These misleading promotions could put consumers’ health at risk and undermine fair competition.

• Suspension of Health Workers in Souss-Massa: The regional branch of the National Union of Public Health condemned the suspension of doctors and nurses at Hassan II Regional Hospital and Agadir University Hospital Center, following recent patient deaths.

Risk Factor: These suspensions could undermine trust in public hospitals and provoke unrest among healthcare professionals.

• Public Doctors Call for Health System Reform: Morocco’s Independent Union of Public Sector Doctors rejected attempts to blame medical professionals for systemic failures and urged a national policy to address the sector’s weaknesses.
• Riots Devastate Small Businesses: The Moroccan Confederation of Very Small, Small and Medium Enterprises reported that recent violent protests destroyed shops and enterprises, affecting thousands of entrepreneurs and families across the country.

Risk Factor: This destruction could increase youth unemployment, weaken investor confidence, and threaten social and economic stability.

Cross-border stability:

• Polisario Links to Terror Networks: Petitioners at the UN warned of the separatist group’s proven collusion with terrorist and organized crime networks in the Sahel and Sahara, citing growing threats to regional security and radicalization among youths in Tindouf camps.

Risk Factor: The group’s ties to extremist networks and smuggling routes in Tindouf heighten regional insecurity, undermine counterterrorism efforts, and threaten civilian safety.

• Border Security Alert in Northern Morocco: Authorities raised the alert level along the borders with Ceuta and Melilla after social media videos encouraged mass attempts to storm the cities, prompting reinforced patrols and investigations.

Risk Factor: Coordinated border breaches by human trafficking networks and online incitement pose potential threats to public order and safety.

• Insecurity Around Tindouf Camps: FORSATIN warned of rising insecurity after an armed gang attacked Chinese workers from a company overseeing a state-backed railway project.
• Humanitarian and Security Concerns in Tindouf Camps: The UN Secretary-General reported high levels of malnutrition, anemia, and food insecurity among Sahrawi residents, alongside 142 incidents of gunfire near the Moroccan defense wall over the past year.

Security:

• Drug Trafficking Attempt via Moroccan Transport: Authorities at Tanger Med Port seized 33 kilograms of raw cocaine hidden in a shipping container from a Moroccan freight truck.