Economic measures approved earlier this year aim to further increase these figures

Marruecos aumenta sus ingresos aduaneros en más de un 20%

REUTERS/JESÚS BLASCO - A general view shows the border between Morocco and Spain's North African enclave of Melilla in Beni Enzar, Morocco

María Cerdán

15 de febrero de 2022 (16:53 h.)

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The Kingdom of Morocco's net customs revenues exceeded Dh5.6 billion in January 2022, up 20.7% from the same month last year, according to the latest data provided by the monthly public finance statistics bulletin of the Kingdom's General Treasury. These revenues include customs duties, Value Added Tax (VAT) on imports and Internal Consumption Tax (ICT) on energy products.

Regarding retail trade, revenues net of customs duties reached Dh906 million, up 14 per cent compared to January 2021. Alongside this, net import VAT receipts have also increased by 33.6 per cent to more than Dh3.5 billion. VAT on energy products increased by 64.9 per cent and VAT on all other products by 27.6 per cent.

Regarding ICT net receipts on energy products, they amounted to nearly Dh1.18 billion, down 2.8 per cent from their level at the end of January 2021, taking into account refunds and tax refunds of Dh3 million.

These figures come a month after the Governing Council, under the chairmanship of head of government Aziz Akhannouch, approved two draft decrees on the implementation of value added tax (VAT) and the customs and excise code.

In addition, the agreement signed between the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) and the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration (ADII), which materialises the partnership between the two institutions in favour of boosting Moroccan companies operating in international trade and improving the relationship between economic agents and the Administration, is also relevant.

Both the director general of the ADII, Nabyl Lakhdar, and the president of the CGEM, Chakib Ali, agreed on the objective of the agreement to establish mechanisms to facilitate international trade operations, in particular through the establishment of a categorisation of companies. It is also expected to make the relationship between companies and the administration even smoother and more efficient and to improve the competitiveness of national business.

These figures are obtained even though Morocco's borders remained closed because of the COVID-19 omicron variant since last November. It is hoped that with the opening of the air borders as of 7 February, pre-pandemic figures will be resumed, even though the sea borders remain closed.