Morocco’s core rate of inflation (not including volatile price products and public tariff products) rose by 0.3% in January 2024 from the month before and was up 2.9% compared to Jan 2023, according to Morocco’s Statistics and Forecasts Office’s (HCP) monthly bulletin.
In contrast, the January 2024 Consumer Price Index (CPI) decreased by 0.6% compared to the previous month. This change resulted from a 0.9% decline in the food products index and a 0.3% decrease in the non-food products index.
The decreases in the prices of food between December 2023 and January 2024 were primarily in the category of “Vegetables” (9.6%). Conversely, prices of “Fish and seafood” rose by 4.7%, “Fruit” by 0.6%, “Coffee, tea, and cocoa” by 0.4%, and “Meat” by 0.3%.
As for non-food products, the principal drivers of decreased prices were “Pharmaceutical products,” down by 4.9%, and “Fuel,” down by 2.4%.
The most significant regional declines in the CPI were recorded in Oujda at 1.0%, Casablanca at 0.8%, Kénitra and Beni-Mellal at 0.7%, Agadir, Meknès, Guelmim, and Al-Hoceima at 0.6%, Rabat and Tangier at 0.5%, Marrakech, Dakhla, and Errachidia at 0.4%, and Tétouan at 0.3%. In contrast, the Laâyoune CPI rose slightly by 0.3%.
Compared to January 2023, the CPI increased by 2.3% in January 2024 due to a 4.2% increase in the food index and a 0.8% increase in the index of non-food products. For non-food products, the variations ranged from a 1.2% decrease for “Health” to a 4.3% increase for “Restaurants and hotels.”