Government plans to reduce budget deficit to 3.5%

The government intends to reduce the budget deficit to 3.5% in 2025, instead of the 5.3% expected at the end of the current year.

Data on the overall budget programming for three years (2023-2025) issued by the Ministry of Economy and Finance indicate that the deficit will decrease to 4.5% next year, and 4% in 2024.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance said that the assumptions of the development of the budget deficit will make it possible to maintain the treasury debt at a level of less than 70% in relation to the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025.

The government is betting on achieving the decrease thanks to expectations of increased tax revenues by an average 4%, compared to 3.4% collected between 2013 and 2019.

It is expected that direct taxes, which represent 45% of the total tax revenues, will witness significant growth at an annual 5.4% rate.

The government intends to control expenditures whose annual growth rate will be close to 3% on average, as the pace of the increase will slow down to decrease from 10.8% of GDP in 2023 to 10.4% in 2025.

Clearing fees will also witness a significant decrease in the coming years, in parallel with the generalization of social protection mainly at the end of the next year.

The 2023 Finance Bill allocated approximately MAD 26.5 billion to the subsidies fund, and by the end of the next year, direct financial support will be granted to 10 million families.

The fund’s allocations will decrease in 2024 to MAD 8.9 billion, to reach MAD 200 million in 2025.