The Moroccan government has carried out structural reforms in a short period of time and made promising progress and reforms, Prime Minister Saadeddine Othmani announced.
Othmani, who was presenting to MPs a mid-term evaluation of his cabinet’s program, described the tripartite agreement signed recently by the government with trade unions and employers as the backbone for social stability and the improvement of peoples' lives.
“We are moving in the right direction,” he said while admitting that the government is not capable of solving Morocco’s problems during a half or even full mandate despite all the exerted efforts.
He referred to several achievements and reforms that were made in light of increasing social demands, saying King Mohammed VI supervised a number of workshops and strategies on renewable energy, water, social programs, health and agriculture which played a major role in the success of these programs.
The Prime Minister said his government faced a range of social challenges because of the limited impact of economic growth on the lives of citizens and the reduction of social and geographical disparities, which has led to various protests in el-Hoceima and Jeradah.
He pointed out that the government adopted dialogue in handling the protests.
Othmani's briefing comes amid tension among members of the coalition government. However, he downplayed the differences among allies, saying they don’t affect the government’s general performance and its decision making.
The Prime Minister lauded majority parties and their leaders, as well as the opposition for their "patriotic spirit" and their role in accelerating the parliament's approval of a number of reforms.
Othmani briefed the lawmakers on a number of measures taken to reduce poverty, including raising the education budget and making greater allocations for children's social support programs, a move that has increased the number of beneficiaries to 2 million.
Othmani also said that the Ministry of Health’s budget was increased by 16 percent, while improving basic health coverage and the adoption of compulsory health insurance for the self-employed professions.
On the economy, the government said it managed to attract an unprecedented level of more than $8 billion worth of investments, a 17-point gain in the Transparency Index, and recorded the highest public employment rate of 130,000 new jobs.
The unemployment rate was also reduced to 9.8 percent and Morocco's cash reserves were increased to $22 billion.
