Inflation Rose to 0.7% in 2020: Central Bank

01 August 2021 Printable Version

Rabat - The Covid-19 health crisis and the restrictions put in place to contain its spread led to a significant weakening of demand and major disruptions in the supply of certain goods and services, with inflation rising from 0.2 percent in 2019, its lowest level since 1968, to 0.7 percent in 2020, Morocco’s central bank (Bank Al-Maghrib) has said in its 2020 annual report.

As a result of this double shock, the components of consumer prices showed contrasting evolutions, with inflation being low overall but accelerating slightly from the prevision year, according to the report which was presented Saturday to HM the King by the Bank’s Governor Abdellatif Jouahri.

Volatile food prices rose by 2 percent as opposed to a 1.5 percent decline in 2019, due to an exceptional increase in demand on the eve and at the beginning of the lockdown period and lower supply of some products during the year, the report points out.

Regulated tariffs rose by 1.2 percent, almost unchanged from the previous year, due to increases in road passenger transport, medical services and tobacco. On the other hand, and consistent with the fall in international oil prices, the decline in fuels and lubricants prices accentuated from 2.7 percent to 12.4 percent.

Core inflation, which reflects the underlying price trend, stabilised at a low level of 0.5 percent in a context marked by intensified disinflationary pressures stemming from lower aggregate demand and imported inflation.