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The head of government was a guest of national TV channel Al Aoula on Thursday evening. For about 30 minutes, he barely «touched» on matters related to the spread of the coronavirus and the state of health emergency. He made sure not to drop any announcements. Was it out of prudence or lack of expertise on these subjects ?
When asked about the possible end of the lockdown measures, implemented on March 20, Saadeddine El Othmani avoided answering. «The health and interior ministers are working on managing the aftermath of May 20», adding that «there are several scenarios». This sentence was repeated many times by the head of government, during the interview.
«We have to continue on this path and be patient. Deconfinement is more difficult than containment. A long battle awaits us to avoid going backwards».
«No blank year» for schools
Several scenarios are also under consideration by the Ministry of National and Higher Education for the resumption of the school year, El Othmani said. «Solutions are currently being studied which we will announce publicly in the coming days», he added. On this subject, the head of government nevertheless gave a categorical answer, explaining that «there will be no blank year».
But it was mainly on the economic matters that El Othmani was completely out of touch with reality. «It is difficult to assess the impact of the coronavirus. Again, I have no vision. There are scenarios. We will examine them and then announce the restart of industrial activity», he said.
And yet, on April 30 at the House of Representatives, the Minister of Economy and Finance acknowledged that the economic indicators are in the red. Mohamed Benchaaboun indeed explained to the members of the Finance Commission that «the transfers of Moroccans residing abroad have decreased by 10% since the beginning of the year and exports fell by 50% in March and 80% by April 23. Tourism, air transport and the automotive industry are completely suspended while the aeronautic sector recorded an 80% drop».
It should be recalled that the head of government was removed from the trusteeship over the billions of the Covid-19 management fund as well as from the chairmanship of the Economic Watch Committee, granted to Mohamed Benchaaboun.
Saadeddine El Othmani is expected, on May 18, in the House of Representatives to present the plan for the deconfinement of his government. Hopefully, by this deadline, his scenarios will have taken a more concrete shape.
