Morocco’s Tax Exemptions Total $3 bln in 2019

Morocco’s Tax Exemptions Total $3 bln in 2019
TT

Morocco’s Tax Exemptions Total $3 bln in 2019

Morocco’s Tax Exemptions Total $3 bln in 2019

Morocco's tax exemptions totaled 27.78 billion dirhams ($3 billion) this year, down 3 percent from a year ago, according to a report by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The report noted that this amount constituted 58 percent in total tax exemptions, 29 percent in tax rate reductions, and 8 percent in partial and temporary exemptions and another 5 percent granted in the form of projections, facilities and liabilities.

The share of the real estate sector in the total tax exemptions granted by the government during the current year was about 15.9 percent, compared with 18.9 percent last year.

The social hedging sector’s share came in second with 17.6 percent of the total value of tax exemptions, while the export sector’s share was 10 percent, followed by the agriculture and fishing sector at 9.1 percent, the financial sector at 7 percent and the transport sector at 5 percent. The food industry sector’s share amounted to 4 percent.

According to the types of tax, VAT exemptions topped the ranking by about 51 percent of the total value of tax exemptions in 2019, but fell by about 3 percent compared to 2018, and income tax exemptions (mainly consisting of wages) decreased by 20 percent compared with last year.



China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
TT

China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.