The consumer price index has undergone an increase since the beginning of 2022, reaching 3.3% during the first two months of this year, compared to the end of February 2021, the High Commission for Planning (HCP) said.
This trend is mainly due to a 4.9% rise in the food index and a 2.4% increase in the non-food index, the HCP reported in a note on "Inflation trends in Morocco."
For food products, the largest increases concern "oils and fats" (+14.2%), "bread and cereals" (+11.5%), "vegetables" (+4.5%) and "meat" (4.1%), the same source said.
In contrast, the prices of "fruit" and "fish" have dropped, respectively, 5.4% and 1%. For non-food products, the increase affected mainly the prices of "Fuels" (+20.1%) and "Tobacco" (+3.5%).
As for the outlook, the HCP expects price increases to remain above the average of the last decade in 2022. The external effects and the drought are expected to further increase the uncertainty of inflation at the national level.
At the global level, the outlook for price developments during 2022 is likely to be exceptional in both developed and emerging countries. As a result of rising oil prices, inflation will be higher and more widespread than expected. Food prices reached a new record high in February 2022.
They increased by 3.9% as compared to January 2021, and by over 20% as compared to February 2021. Cereal prices increased by 14.8% in February 2022 compared to a year before.
As for oil prices, they reached a new high in February 2022 with an increase of 36.7% year-on-year, while milk prices rose by 24.8%.
The HCP note gives a brief overview of the evolution of inflation at the domestic and global levels and discusses the main factors explaining the evolution of prices.
