Can Morocco’s 2027 budget deliver the sovereignty it promises? That question hung over a Friday session of the House of Representatives’ Finance and Economic Development Committee, where lawmaker Hind Al-Baki argued the answer is no.
Al-Baki, a member of the Justice and Development Party’s (PJD) parliamentary group, told fellow committee members that a persistent gap separates the government’s rhetoric from the substance of its budget measures. The philosophy underlying the 2027 finance bill, she said, does nothing to build the kind of empowered Moroccan citizen needed to drive « the transformation we want. » In her reading, the bill offers no real answer to what she called the genuine flaws holding back the kingdom’s growth model.
Morocco, the MP argued, needs an economy no longer hostage to rainfall patterns. She called instead for growth that creates jobs and wealth, preserves citizens’ dignity, boosts exports and weans the country off imports — an agenda she said the current finance bill does little to advance.
She also took aim at the government’s communication style, accusing officials of reaching for grand language while rolling out measures she described as scattered and disconnected, lacking any unifying vision to tie the various reforms together.
Al-Baki reserved particular criticism for the government’s use of the term « food sovereignty. » In her view, the concept reaches far beyond mere self-sufficiency: it is about freeing Moroccans from dependence on outside suppliers and securing the country’s full independence over its own food choices. That ambition, she argued, is barely reflected in the bill’s actual provisions. As an example, she pointed to the customs and tax exemptions written into the text, which she said sit awkwardly alongside the government’s stated food-sovereignty goals.
Her remarks land amid a broader budget debate in which opposition voices — from the left to the PJD, once the dominant party in government — are converging on calls to rethink the government’s approach, even as they disagree on what should replace it.
