The Parliamentary Network
  • Home
  • Latest
    • Latest
    • Articles
    • Events
    • Videos
    • Publications
  • About
    • Partners
    • Board and Governance
    • Mission
  • Field visits
  • Chapters
  • Resources
    • Resources
    • Briefings
    • Field Visit Reports
    • Network Review
    • P&D series
    • IDA & Aid Effectiveness
  • Contact us
  • Home
  • Latest
    • Articles
    • Events
    • Videos
    • Publications
  • About
    • Partners
    • Board and Governance
    • Mission
  • Field visits
  • Chapters
  • Resources
    • Briefings
    • Field Visit Reports
    • Network Review
    • P&D series
    • IDA & Aid Effectiveness
  • Contact us
  • EnglishEnglish
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • Articles
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Publications
  • See all
  •  Share content
Article

Statement by Neila Tazi

Virtual Parliamentary Briefing on Pandemics with a special focus on COVID-19, 24 April 2020
by Neila Tazi , presidente at A3 GROUPE | on 24.04.20 | in Health
I first would like to thank the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and IMF for the organization of this virtual briefing about the COVID-19 crisis. From an early stage, the State of Morocco has been aware of the urgency of the situation and set up a strategy on several axes; a strategy involving all the actors, public and private sectors and civil society, who have taken rapid and coordinated actions to mitigate the health, social and economic impact of the crisis.

The first major decision has been by the king of Morocco to set up a COVID Fund to collect public and private donations. This fund, which has reached more than 3 billion dollars, is meant to implement emergency measures on the health, social and economic levels.

The second aspect I would like to emphasize is that the parliament voted a decree-law to declare a state of health emergency. This decree law establishes the legal framework to allow the implementation of the emergency strategy and its measures, in accordance with our constitution.

These measures are focused on 3 different levels: health, social and economic measures.

1. Health measures:

  • early on, Morocco closed its air, sea and land borders to block entry into the territory of infected people.
  • it has imposed generalized containment with a curfew at 6 p.m.
    an administrative authorization is issued during the containment period for any person who has to leave its house, except in specific cases.
  • the COVID Fund helped strengthen the capacities of the public health system (a system which unfortunately had a great deficiency).
  • wearing of a protective mask has been made compulsory for any person going outside for any reason. And several textile factories have been transformed into manufacturing units of protective masks – Morocco now produces more than 5 million masks per day.

2. Social measures:

  • the COVID Fund provides a monthly monetary allowance to any household that needs it, all over the country and during the state of health emergency. This subsidy is barely less than the minimum wage.
  • For the first time in Moroccan history, a money transfer has been organized for the poorest and most vulnerable households and those whose family head has momentarily lost his (or her) job. (People in the rural world and in the most remote regions, often unbanked, all received text messages on their mobile phones explaining where to withdraw the money).

3. Economic measures:

  • an Economic Monitoring Committee has been set up. It brings together the government, the private sector, the banking sector and the central bank who monitor the evolution of the economic situation in Morocco.
  • in addition to the monthly allowances paid to employees of companies in difficulty, a moratorium has been set on the reimbursement of bank loans and credits, for businesses and individuals.

As a conclusion, I would say that although we do not know the extent of the economic consequences of COVID-19, we work daily to adapt our responses

This pandemic and its global impacts prompts us as parliamentarians to push for further reforms which seemed until now impossible or improbable, such as the health system transformation, or a basic family income, an idea that I personally advocated in parliament only two months ago.

We are of course ready to share our experiences with legislators from any country who expresses the wish. And I thank you for your attention.

  • Tweet
  • Share 0
  • +1
  • LinkedIn 0
COVID-19|Morocco|Neila Tazi|Virtual Parliamentary Briefing on Pandemics

You may also like

Inflation has been a persistent challenge for developing economies for decades but, in recent times, has also become a worrying trend in advanced economies.
Speech at the parliamentary dialogue series on the taxation-inflation nexus Organised by the parliamentary network on the world bank and IMF
by Hon. Steve Azaiki MP, Nigeria, Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Network on 11.07.22
Find out more
A global food crisis is pushing many countries toward famine as hunger levels surpassed all previous records in 2021 as reported by the 2022 Global Report on Food Crises, with close to 193 million people acutely food insecure—nearly 40 million more people than during the previous high reached in 2020.
Past webinar
Parliamentary Dialogue Series: Food, Fragility and Finance
date: 22.06.2022 | location: Online
Find out more
Thank you, Liam and hello to everyone. Sadly, I am speaking from Portugal because we can’t travel, basically. And hopefully we will be together sooner than later as we overcome these difficult times. I know time is of essence, so I’ll try to be brief saying that it is consensual that we need to understand […] Image: Photo by Yohann LIBOT on Unsplash
Ricardo Baptista Leite’s speech at the Virtual Parliamentary Briefing on Supporting Countries in Delivering the COVID-19 Vaccine
by Ricardo Baptista Leite on 13.07.21
Find out more
  • Articles
  • Events
  • Videos
  • Publications
  • See all
  •  Share content
Join The Network Share Content
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Flickr
  • Contact
The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank and International Monetary Fund © 2020 | Privacy policy