Rabat — The Minister Delegate in charge of relations with the Parliament, Government Spokesperson, Mustapha Baitas, said Thursday in Rabat that the executive has well controlled the budget deficit during the year 2022.

Baitas, who was answering questions at a press briefing held after the Government Council weekly meeting, said that the executive has managed to control, in 2022, the budget deficit which was limited to 5.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), which is an improvement of 0.4% compared to 2021.

He added that the government has managed to meet this challenge despite the opening of additional funds, especially for the Compensation Fund whose expenses have exceeded 40 billion dirhams, in addition to allocating MAD 12 billion to several public institutions such as the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) to control the price of electricity consumption and the repayment of arrears of value added tax (19 billion dirhams) for businesses.

Meanwhile, the Minister said that the ordinary expenditure has approached 36 billion dirhams, that is an achievement rate of 110% compared to 2021, noting that this increase is due to the efforts made by the government to support the compensation fund.

To this end, Baitas said that the executive has managed to achieve a positive ordinary balance of 15.7 billion dirhams in 2022, against 4 billion dirhams in 2021, noting that these margins have been allocated directly to public investment.