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Nasser Bourita and Mohamed Boussaid arrived on Monday in Kuwait after visiting the Saudi capital where they handed over to the Emir Sabah Al Ahmed Jaber a written message from King Mohammed VI. The two ministers, namely of Foreign Affairs and Finance, are not visiting the United Arab Emirates, which is also a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council. In fact, while Morocco has sent two of its competent ministers to the Gulf region, the Emirati Crown Prince, Mohamed Ben Zayed is on a trip to the Bouaarfa region in the kingdom as well as the Bahraini king.
Usually, when the Minister of Finance accompanies his Foreign Affairs counterpart in official visits to the Gulf monarchies, their trip focus on the economic issues.
And for good reason, the aids granted by the Gulf Cooperation Council states to Morocco have recorded, in the recent years, a significant decline. In 2016, they accounted for 720 million dollars while the government was expecting 1.3 billion dollars.
Relaunching the Gulf States’ aid
The Cooperation Council of the Gulf States pledged to support, between 2012 and 2016, the Moroccan economy by 5 billion dollars. A sum that intended to finance public investment projects. And according to official statistics, the kingdom has received until April 2017 only $ 3 MM of the total amount promised.
Last September and during a conference on public finances held in Rabat, the Minister of Finance acknowledged, in an intervention read on his behalf by the treasurer general of the kingdom, the decline of these aids. In order to fill the gap and at the same time boost the government’s coffers, Mohamed Boussaid invited Moroccan private companies to show more «fiscal responsibility».
Next year's budget bill expects 8 billion dirhams of aid from its partners in the Gulf region.
Unlike 2016 and 2017, oil prices in the global market jumped to over $ 60. A situation that might last till 2018, especially under the circumstances in teh region and the tension between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
