Hespress interview: Benabdallah says majority shut down inquiry into controversial sheep subsidies

Mohamed Nabil Benabdallah accused Morocco’s governing coalition of pressuring lawmakers not to support a parliamentary inquiry into livestock and meat imports amid a controversy over state support measures introduced during soaring food prices and declining national herd levels.

Mohamed Nabil Benabdallah, secretary general of the Party of Progress and Socialism, accused lawmakers from the ruling coalition of blocking efforts to establish a parliamentary commission of inquiry into billions of dirhams in tax exemptions and support measures granted to livestock and meat importers.

“Some majority lawmakers told us directly there were strict instructions not to sign with the opposition and that anyone who did would face disciplinary measures,” Benabdallah told Hespress in an exclusive interview.

The accusation lands at a sensitive moment for the government, a week before Eid al-Adha and after months of public anger over meat and sheep prices despite aggressive state intervention in the market.

Since 2022, Morocco has suspended customs duties and VAT on imported livestock and red meat as drought and feed shortages shrank the national herd by roughly 38% compared with the previous census, according to government figures.

But the subsidies evolved into one of the government’s most politically damaging economic files because prices never materially retreated for consumers even as importers benefited from billions in exemptions.

An Investigation published by TelQuel described a system in which “billions injected by the state did not ease the burden on Moroccan households” and instead enriched “a small circle of operators.”

Its reporting also described how companies with little prior involvement in livestock rapidly entered the import market after the exemptions were introduced, while some operators allegedly multiplied corporate entities to maximize access to state support, a claim backed by Benabdallah.

The government and leaders of the ruling National Rally of Independents have repeatedly rejected accusations surrounding the file, describing opposition claims as politically motivated and based on misleading figures.

The controversy has increasingly spilled beyond the opposition into the governing majority itself. Nizar Baraka and Industry Minister Ryad Mezzour publicly criticized speculation and market concentration earlier this year, with Mezzour warning that a small group of operators should not be allowed to “hold Moroccans hostage.”

Within political circles and Moroccan media, the file is now increasingly discussed through the prism of the 2026 legislative elections, with opposition parties portraying the subsidies as evidence of a wider political economy.

Despite mounting political pressure, the opposition lacks the parliamentary weight to force a formal inquiry on its own. Morocco’s governing coalition controls roughly two thirds of the 395 seat House of Representatives, while commissions of inquiry require support from one third of lawmakers, effectively allowing the majority to block politically dangerous investigations before they begin.

Benabdallah said opposition parties initially pushed in April 2025 for a parliamentary commission of inquiry with subpoena powers before the initiative was downgraded within days to a lower level fact finding mission lacking comparable investigative authority.

Agriculture Minister Ahmed El Bouari told parliament sheep were available starting at 1,000 dirhams before later correcting himself and acknowledging prices closer to 2,000 to 2,500 dirhams.

“When officials speak about sheep at 1,000 dirhams, it is completely detached from market reality,” Benabdallah said.

The government has since announced tighter controls on livestock markets ahead of Eid, including restrictions on speculative reselling, mandatory seller declarations and penalties targeting price manipulation and hoarding.

But Benabdallah argued the measures come too late and fail to address what he described as the deeper structural problem behind the crisis.

For the PPS, a former coalition party that repositioned itself in opposition after the 2021 elections, the livestock imports controversy has become one of the clearest openings to attack the government on purchasing power ahead of the 2026 legislative vote.