This is an opportunity that the parliamentary opposition could not miss. The government’s decision to increase the price of butane gas brought the first round of attacks by the PSU and the PJD through its union branch, the UNTM.
For MP and deputy general secretary of PSU, Nabila Mounib, the daily quotes Annahar Al Maghrebia in its weekend edition of May 25 and 26 this increase “it will primarily affect the poor social strata“. For her an increase of ten dirhams”certainly will not be noticed by the rich social classes“. This decision will especially affect the poor population and small farmers who use gas for irrigation. This will lead to an increase in the costs of agriculture for their own needs.
According to representatives of the extreme left, the agricultural and industrial sectors demand that the public authorities provide them with energy security. Which is not the case today because the Kingdom still depends on imports to cover 85% of its needs in this area.
Certainly, she says, Morocco has chosen renewable energy sources, but they are not enough to guarantee its energy autonomy. For the Deputy General Secretary of PSU, the solution is to reopen Samir. But this is another story.
The second round of criticism comes from UNTM, the trade union branch of the PJD. The union condemned this increase, as well as all the consequences that will arise from it. This increase “will have dangerous consequences on the daily life of citizens“, the union underlines.
Forgetting that this increase is a practical translation of the reform of the Compensation Fund initiated by the first PJD government, the Islamist union believes that this increase undermines the purchasing power of citizens.
The trade union headquarters thus requested the Government “take full responsibility for the collapse of the purchasing power of the working classes“. And that, while encouraging him to “make urgent decisions, emphasizing the need to put an end to the deterioration of the social situation“. What situation, the trade union referred to in the diary points out, “is aggravated by its policies favoring profit and wild capitalism that feeds on speculation and price anarchy“.
Also, the trade union branch of the PJD called on the government to fundamentally review its social policy and find real solutions for the deterioration of the social situation, while opening a multi-party national dialogue.
However, the Government’s decision, which came into force last Monday, has not yet been well explained to citizens, according to butane gas distributors. In fact, social networks have reported an increase of up to 17 dirhams for a 12 kg cylinder, while the press release issued by the government only talks about ten dirhams.
According to the daily, which always refers to representatives of the distributor, this difference in price is quite logical. What the Government did not sufficiently explain is that the price of butane gas is not uniform throughout the country. There are three zones. In the first zone, the price is set at 50 dirhams, in zone 2 it is 53 dirhams, while in the third zone it is 57 dirhams.
Per Amyne Asmlal
24.05.2024 at 21:21 h.