Fettah who presented the outline of the PLF-2023 at a plenary session of both Houses of Parliament, said that spending on the subsidy of butane gas, during the first nine months of 2022, posted an increase of 70%, or an average of 97 dirhams per bottle of 12 kg.
The Minister noted that the cost of subsidizing wheat imports for this year should amount to more than 8.5 billion dirhams, in addition to a total of 1.3 billion dirhams to subsidize the national flour of soft wheat, estimating that the costs of compensation for this year should increase by 72%, not counting the costs of support for public transport professionals.
In addition, Fettah noted that the state will support the cost of membership in the basic compulsory health insurance for nearly 4 million families in vulnerable situations, allocating about 9.5 billion dirhams, which will ensure access to hospitals as the rest of the beneficiaries of the compulsory health coverage.
In the same context, the Minister noted that the upgrading of the national health system will continue, through the allocation of additional 4.6 billion dirhams, bringing the overall budget allocated to the health sector and social protection to over 28 billion dirhams.
She emphasized that the rehabilitation of the health system includes several areas in the forefront, of which the upgrading of human resources and improvement of their material and working conditions, with a review of the training system, noting that 5,500 budgetary positions will be created in the health sector, in addition to allocating nearly 1.5 billion dirhams to increase the salaries of health professionals.
Regarding the generalization of family allowances as part of the reform of social protection, the Minister said that the government will work to implement it before the end of 2023, and will benefit about 7 million children from vulnerable and poor families in particular, and 3 million families in vulnerable situations and without children of school age.
As for the reform of the system of education and training, the Minister noted that the new PLF has allocated additional MAD 6.5 billion, bringing the total budget allocated to the sector to about MAD 69 billion, specifying that 2 billion dirhams have been allocated to accelerate the generalization of preschool education and about 1.8 billion dirhams to increase the number of beneficiaries of canteens and boarding schools, in addition to 1.6 billion dirhams for the support program “Tayssir”, which will be replaced by family allowances in late 2023.
Concerning the facilitation of access to decent housing, the Minister noted that the government will create a direct support to families for the purchase of housing, instead of the approach based on tax expenditures and the provision of the land base, whose economic and social impact is difficult to assess, she said.
The government will also redouble its efforts to promote the integration of young people into the labor market, through continuing the implementation of the Awrach program, which aims to create 250,000 jobs, during the years 2022 and 2023, for which the PLF 2023 has reserved about MAD 2.25 billion.
She said that the PLF also provides for the creation of 48,212 budgetary positions, against 43,860 in 2022.
