Morocco will immediately revise the eligibility criteria for its direct social aid program and gradually raise monthly assistance to families from MAD 500 to MAD 1,000, Economy and Finance Minister Fouzi Lekjaa told parliament on Friday.
Speaking before the House of Representatives’ Finance and Economic Development Committee during discussions on the 2027 Finance Bill, Lekjaa said the government would immediately remove some variables from the current social support eligibility index and gradually introduce household income into its calculations, with the aim of moving to a system based entirely on income by the middle of the government’s current term.
The current index assesses household spending rather than relying on administrative documents. Lekjaa acknowledged it sometimes excludes families from assistance because of exceptional expenses that do not reflect their actual situation. Monthly aid, now at a minimum of MAD 500, is set to rise gradually, starting at MAD 600 in the first year and eventually reaching MAD 1,000, taking inflation and economic pressures into account.
The minister stressed that the program is not intended to provide lifelong assistance but to help families become economically active, and said the government could consider extending the support period when revising the relevant legislation.
Lekjaa also addressed mandatory health insurance, saying 32.7 million people, or 89 percent of the population, are registered in health insurance schemes, while only 28.6 million, or 78 percent, have active coverage. Around 4.1 million people have lost coverage over unpaid contributions and another 4.1 million are not registered in any scheme.
He criticized the imbalance between private and public healthcare providers, noting that private clinics account for some 90 percent of health insurance spending while public hospitals receive less than 10 percent, and said public hospitals should account for at least half of that expenditure.
Sources: Morocco World News; Maroc Diplomatique.
Featured image: Moroccan dirham banknotes, a context image. Photo: Freepius, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0.