Morocco Authority: 57% of companies suspended due to coronavirus

The High Commission for Planning in Morocco announced that 57 per cent of the total number of companies in the country have temporarily or permanently suspended their activities due to the coronavirus.

This came in a statement by the commission, an official body charged with statistics on the performance of regulated firms, in order to evaluate the direct impact of the coronavirus crisis on the status of companies.

The commission added that more than 135,000 companies have had to temporarily suspend their activities, while another 6,300 were permanently closed.

According to the commission’s report: “89 per cent of accommodation and restaurant companies in addition to 79 per cent of the textile, leather, metal and mechanical industries, and 60 per cent of the companies in the construction sector are at a standstill.”

According to the report, 67 per cent of the exporting companies have stated that they have been affected by the current health crisis, as one out of every nine companies have suspended their activities permanently, while five out of nine have suspended their activities temporarily.

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The study was conducted between 1 to 3 April 2020 with a sample of 4,000 companies, working in the sectors of manufacturing, construction, energy, minerals, marine fishing, trade and non-financial commercial services.

On Saturday, the Moroccan authorities announced an extension of the state of health emergency in the country for one additional month until Wednesday 20 May, as part of its precautionary measures against the virus.

In addition to declaring a month’s state of health emergency on 20 March 2020, the authorities restricted movement in the country as a way to “keep the virus under control.”

Until Wednesday, Morocco had recorded 3,377 infection cases and 149 deaths, while 398 have recovered from the virus.