HIBAPRESS – Abdelatif Baraka
The government program for the period 2026-2031 has sparked a debate about the extent to which the new government, headed by Fatima Ezzahra Mansouri, can translate its declared commitments into tangible actions that meet the social and economic expectations of Moroccans, in light of the continuing challenges of the high cost of living, unemployment, and widening spatial disparities.
The most prominent questions revolve around the economic objectives included in the program, foremost among them achieving a growth rate of 5 percent, alongside reducing public debt and expanding social support. These are objectives that place the government before the challenge of mobilizing sufficient financial resources, stimulating productive investment, and enhancing the competitiveness of the national economy, ensuring a balance between maintaining financial equilibrium and responding to increasing social needs.
The program, according to the declared commitments, includes measures related to gradually increasing social support, improving the conditions of retirees and widows, and supporting housing in rural areas, in addition to measures aimed at alleviating the burdens of living. However, the discussion surrounding these measures focuses on their implementation timeline and the adequacy of the allocated amounts to achieve a real impact on the purchasing power of families, especially in light of the continued rise in the costs of several essential goods and services.
In the employment file, which will be managed by the federal minister Abdelrahim Shahid, the program faces the challenge of reducing youth unemployment and addressing the phenomenon of school dropout. These are issues that are not solely related to training but also to the economy's ability to create stable job opportunities, expand the base of small and medium-sized enterprises, and improve the relationship between training and labor market demands.
From this perspective, the effectiveness of government measures will remain contingent on their connection to the needs of the economic fabric and their ability to provide sustainable professional opportunities.
Advanced regionalization also stands out among the files that require greater clarification regarding implementation and financing mechanisms, and the extent to which regions can exercise their developmental competencies independently and effectively. Increasing financial transfers to regional councils, regardless of their value, will not be sufficient on its own to achieve balanced development without actual decentralization of competencies, acceleration of administrative deconcentration, and linking projects to measurable and evaluable objectives.
At the level of governance and combating corruption, the program also raises questions about the mechanisms for activating commitments related to ethical public life, enhancing transparency in public procurement, and expanding the access of micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises to public demand. The key challenge here remains the transition from declaring principles to establishing clear mechanisms for oversight and accountability, ensuring equal opportunities and limiting conflicts of interest.
In the fields of water and energy, major projects related to seawater desalination, renewable energies, and green hydrogen require institutional coordination and sustainable financing, with clarification of the government's role in completing ongoing projects and launching additional initiatives that respond to the needs of citizens and the national economy. This raises the need to distinguish between previously programmed projects and new commitments for which the government bears responsibility for implementation and evaluation of their results.
Finally, the evaluation of the government program is not solely based on the magnitude of declared objectives or the number of commitments within it, but primarily on the clarity of their funding methods, the timeline for their implementation, and the indicators used to measure their results. The government's success in responding to popular expectations will remain contingent on its ability to create wealth and job opportunities, improve the quality of public services, and strengthen trust between citizens and institutions.
Between announced ambitions and economic and social constraints, the Mansouri government enters a phase that requires translating promises into tangible results, pending what the governmental practice will reveal, even within the first 100 days of its appointment, regarding its ability to overcome existing imbalances and achieve more just and sustainable development.
