Rabat - The Moroccan Confederation of SMEs (CMTPME) has recorded the closure of potentially over 40,000 businesses by the end of 2024, according to the confederation’s president, Abdellah El Fergui.

As reported by outlet Le360, El Fergui confirmed that the first half of 2024 witnessed the insolvency of over 20,000 individual and corporate businesses, adding that closures are expected to have risen further by the end of 2024.

He clarified that the total number of dissolutions could surpass 40,000 in 2024, noting that the number has witnessed a critical increase since the outbreak of Covid-19.

The confederation’s president also refuted data shared by the Moroccan Observatory of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMes) saying that the observatory has erroneous statistics which only list companies that are legal entities. The CMTPME added the observatory  does not take into account very small businesses run by individuals.

To respond to the critical situation, El Fergui met with the Minister of Economy and Finance Nadia Fettah on December 9. At the meeting, hesuggested implementing installment payments over 50 months to help these businesses settle their dues with the General Tax Administartion (DGI) and the National Social Security Fund (CNSS).

Businesses dissolutions would witness a surge if urgent action are not taken to assist the hundreds of thousands of TPMEs burdened with debt accumulated during the pandemic. El Fergui also accused the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM) of failing to defend the interests of TPMEs, especially within the Council of Representatives.

However, a recent report by the Moroccan Office of Industrial and Commercial Property (OMPIC) has outlined that 78,244 new businesses have been created in Morocco in the first ten months of 2024.

In October, the World Bank and the Moroccan Observatory of MSMes released a report the estimated the business survival rate in Morocco to be 53% after five years.

These reports come in a situation where unemployment in Morocco reached a 13.7% in the first quarter of 2024, an unfortunate  0.8% increase compared to the same period in 2023.