Marruecos espera el anunciado aumento del 10% del salario mínimo

Morocco's Governing Council is due to certify this Thursday 1 September the expected 10% increase in the minimum wage in the North African country. 

The Guaranteed Minimum Interprofessional Minimum Wage (SMIG) will increase by 10% in the Alawi kingdom once the Executive will finalise on Thursday the decree of revaluation of the SMIG following the steps of the social contract agreed last April 30 between the government led by Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch, the majority trade unions and the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM).

The agreement initialled by the parties provides for a 10% increase in the minimum wage in industry, commerce and services over a period of two years (5% in September 2022 and then another 5% in September 2023), in addition to the progressive unification of the legal minimum wage between the sectors of industry, commerce, agriculture and the liberal professions. In euros, the Moroccan minimum wage will rise from 320 to 333 euros over the next two years.

This increase in the SMIG means that the minimum wage in the public sector will rise to 3,500 dirhams net, and the abolition of scale 7 for civil servants in the categories of administrative assistants and technical assistants in order to re-evaluate the promotion from 33% to 36%, which is a professional improvement for those involved.

Younes Sekkouri, Morocco's Minister of Economic Inclusion, Small Business, Employment and Skills, said on Labour Day that "the increase in the SMIG of the public sector to reach the net amount of 3,500 dirhams aims to improve the material situation of civil servants classified in the lower echelons", as reported by Medias24. Sekkouri has already specified that this long-awaited measure of the Moroccan government will come into force on 1 September.

The annual cost of this decree is estimated at around 18 million dirhams, with more than 3,800 beneficiaries of this measure, who will see their emoluments increase by 10%. As noted, this measure will come into effect on 1 September, while the increase in the promotion quota for promotion in the civil service scale will come into effect in January and will cost 231 million dirhams annually. 

As part of the social agreement signed between the government and the social partners, it is also worth noting that the monetary allowances for large families will increase. The allowances will increase for the fourth, fifth and sixth child to 100 dirhams per month for families falling into these categories. The financial cost will be 25 million dirhams a year for the country's coffers, with a total of more than 32,000 children benefiting. 

These measures, among others, planned by the Moroccan government are aimed at partially alleviating the effects of the current world economic crisis, aggravated by the high inflation caused by the rise in prices in general and by the serious energy supply situation exacerbated by the war in Ukraine, which has led to a problem of supplying energy sources such as gas and oil, given the importance of Russia in this sector and the sanctions imposed on the Russian country due to its invasion of Ukrainian territory. 

Morocco has been suffering from record inflation in recent times, with the Consumer Price Index rising by up to 5 per cent this year, something that has not been seen in the last two decades in the Alawi kingdom. The Moroccan government continues to work hard to ease the effects of this economic shock.