Amending Finance Bill To Be Drawn Up in Next Few Days (Govt. Chief)

An amending finance bill will be drawn up in the coming days, head of government, Saâd Dine El Otmani, announced on Monday before both houses of parliament.

“In view of the changes linked to the economic and global situation resulting from the Covid-19 crisis, and their repercussions on the various hypotheses having framed the drafting of the 2020 finance law, we are going to prepare an amending finance bill in order to activate the recovery plan for the national economy,” the head of government said before the joint session of parliament.

He explained, in this regard, that the amending finance bill requires visibility of the hypotheses on which we should be relying at the global and national levels that take into account forecasts related to the decline in the growth rate, the impacts of drought and the decrease in tax revenues, noting that the general guidelines will be set to present it to the Council of ministers, prior to its presentation to the Council of government and Parliament.

 This project, El Otmani added, aims to establish education, scientific research, health, employment and social protection as priorities, while emphasising digital transformation as a lever for development.

 Aware of the importance of proactive measures for the post-Covid period, the government is working to put in place an ambitious plan for the promotion of the national economy, as an important lever for accelerating the recovery of national economic activity and strengthening its capacity for post-coronavirus exploration, he said.

 He stressed that the approach adopted to develop this project should be comprehensive and integrated, based on horizontal mechanisms taking into account the specificities of each sector separately, as well as external factors, in particular those related to global value chains and domestic supply and consumption.

 The head of government underlined the importance of reflecting on the mechanisms to be mobilized to allocate the necessary funds to enterprises, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), so that they can resume their activity, referring to public procurement as a means of revitalizing the national economy, reviewing its priorities and methods with a view to supporting local production and consumption.

 El Otmani confirmed the need to redouble efforts to address certain structural problems, the importance and urgency of which had been highlighted during the health crisis, including issues related to the informal sector and social protection.

 At the international level, added the government official, the Kingdom will have to adapt to the new configuration of global value chains, by attracting large-scale international investment in research for new production centres, close to European and African markets.