King Mohammed VI chairs a Council of Ministers

King Mohammed VI chaired, Wednesday at the Royal Palace in Rabat, a Council of Ministers, devoted to the examination of the general orientations of the finance bill for the 2021 budget year and the adoption of a number of draft legal texts and international agreements, says a statement from the spokesperson for the Royal Palace, Abdelhak El Mrini

Here is the translation:

“His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, chaired this Wednesday, October 14, 2020 at the Royal Palace in Rabat, a Council of Ministers, which was devoted to the examination of the general orientations of the draft finance law for the 2021 budget year and the adoption of a number of draft legal texts and international agreements.

At the start of the Council’s work, His Majesty the King inquired with the Minister of Health about the progress of the Covid-19 vaccine under development by China, with regard to Morocco.

The Minister of Health replied that there is permanent contact with companies and with the Chinese government, which show goodwill on this subject, stressing that things are moving in the right direction.

Subsequently and in accordance with the provisions of article 49 of the Constitution, the Minister of the Economy, Finance and Administrative Reform presented a presentation on the general orientations of the draft finance law for the budget year 2021.

The Minister said, in this regard, that this bill was drawn up in application of the High Royal Guidelines contained in the Speech from the Throne and that of the opening of the legislative year, which laid out the roadmap to transcend the economic and social difficulties generated by the crisis and build the fundamentals of a strong and competitive economy and a more inclusive social model.

He also stressed that this project was developed in a difficult international context marked by the crisis linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic and social repercussions, in particular on the activity of several sectors.

The general orientations of the finance bill for the 2021 budget year are based on the following axes:

First: acceleration of the launch of the national economy recovery plan: the government will work within this framework to put in place all the means to reinforce the exceptional financial effort announced in the Speech from the Throne. The preservation of jobs and the integration of the informal sector will be the top priorities to be achieved.

It will also proceed to the rapid implementation of all the mechanisms likely to guarantee the effectiveness necessary for the interventions of the Mohammed VI Fund for investment. The government will continue to promote public investment to reach 230 billion dirhams, taking into consideration that 45 billion dirhams will be mobilized under this Fund.

To allow young people to access funding sources, a new dynamic will be given to the “Intelaka” Program, which enjoys the Royal High Solicitude, while benefiting from an exemption from Income Tax for 24 months of salaries paid to young people when they are first recruited, provided that their employment contracts are for an indefinite period.

Second: Beginning of the generalization of Compulsory Health Insurance: through the acceleration of the adoption of amendments relating to the legislative and regulatory framework, which will above all make it possible to establish compulsory health insurance for the benefit of precarious categories who currently benefit from of the RAMED regime, and accelerate the generalization of coverage for the benefit of the self-employed category and those who practice liberal activities.

The government will support the work of generalization of compulsory health coverage by upgrading the health supply through the increase in the budget allocated to the health sector for the year 2021 by nearly two billion dirhams to reach more than 20 billion dirhams.

Third: Reinforcement of the exemplary nature of the State and the rationalization of its management: through the acceleration of the implementation of the High Royal Guidelines by the launch of a major reform of the public sector, the treatment of structural dysfunctions of public establishments and enterprises with the aim of achieving greater complementarity and coherence in their missions and improving their economic and social efficiency.

In this context, two bills will be drawn up, the first relating to the creation of a National Agency whose mission will be to strategically manage the State’s participations and to monitor the performance of public establishments, while the second bill concerns the reform of public establishments and enterprises.

The Minister concluded his presentation by saying that the growth rate of the national economy should be 4.8% and that the budget deficit for 2021 should be reduced to 6.5% of GDP.

Subsequently, the Council of Ministers adopted the draft organic law amending and supplementing the organic law relating to the appointment to higher functions. This project aims to add the National Registries Agency and the Company Guarantee and Financing Company to the list of strategic establishments and companies, for which the appointment of managers is deliberated by the Council of Ministers.

His Majesty the King, may God preserve him, has approved three legal texts relating to the military domain which relate to:

– A bill on trust services for electronic transactions aimed at establishing a more inclusive regime that allows the digitization of the majority of electronic transactions and confers greater flexibility for a wide use of electronic signatures and the fixing of different levels of electronic signature that are compatible with the quality of electronic transactions and add other trust services including electronic seal and electronic time stamping and electronic registered delivery services and website authentication.

– A draft decree setting the conditions and procedures for issuing authorizations for marine scientific research in waters under national jurisdiction. The text specifies the regulatory framework applicable to marine scientific research activities and their encouragement in our country and associates Moroccan bodies and researchers in marine scientific research carried out by foreigners, while ensuring the preservation of the interests of the Kingdom and the national security and sovereignty. The text also provides for the creation of a National Commission for Marine Research.

– A draft decree fixing the composition and the mode of operation of the commission for reform of the personnel of the Auxiliary Forces: its main purpose is to fix the attributions of this commission by adding a representative of the Moroccan Pension Fund and by reinforcing the presence of the Auxiliary Forces corps in the person of a first class inspector-grade superior officer. It also aims to allow the commission to hold its meetings in the headquarters of the Regional Commands in order to provide a local service to the members of these forces.

As part of the implementation of the relevant Royal Vision, concerning the expansion of the Kingdom’s partnership networks and the diversification of their areas of cooperation, the Council of Ministers approved five (5) international agreements, including two bilateral and three multilaterals.

The bilateral agreements relate, on the one hand, to the amendment of the free trade agreement between the Kingdom of Morocco and the Republic of Turkey, which aims to remedy the dysfunctions that have impacted the trade balance between the two countries during recent years, and the protection of emerging or fragile industries, and on the other hand, the privileges and immunities enjoyed by members of diplomatic missions between the government of the Kingdom of Morocco and the government of the United States of America, in accordance with to the 1961 Vienna Agreement.

As for the three multilateral conventions, they relate to the opening of Morocco to new economic spaces and the completion of its adhesion to the contractual system of the African Union.

These conventions relate respectively to the adherence to the statutes of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the African Charter on Road Safety and the Pelindaba Treaty for the Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone in Africa. These last two conventions are part of the strengthening of Morocco’s presence within the system of joint African cooperation and the sharing of its experience with African countries in these two important areas ”.