In response to an oral question on the "financial and economic measures taken to face the Covid-19 crisis" at the House of Representatives, Banchaâboun stressed that as part of supporting heads of households carrying a card of the "RAMED" Medical Assistance Regime and affected by the imposed quarantine, the number of families concerned by this support has reached approximately 2.3 million households, of which 38% in rural areas.

Specialized teams were mobilized to carry out this operation both in the field of IT and in the financial sector, in addition, computer programs were developed in record time, while making the mobile phone a means of communication with the heads of households, he said, noting that around 16,000 aid distribution points have been mobilised, including ATMs.

The Minister noted that this operation allowed, until Sunday, April 26, to distribute more than 80% of financial aid to the households concerned throughout the Moroccan territory, including the rural zone, in full compliance with the imposed sanitary conditions, noting that this process is still under way.

Regarding the support of families operating in the informal sector and that do not have the "RAMED" regime, with compensation similar to that of their counterparts with a RAMED card, Benchaaboun explained that the number of households involved in this operation amounted to 2 million households, after checking the consistency of the applications submitted on the site "www.tadamoncovid.ma", stressing that the effective distribution of this aid has already started on Thursday 23 April.

In addition, the Economic Monitoring Committee has taken a series of measures in favor of businesses affected by this pandemic, in particular the MSMEs, SMEs and the liberal trades, said the official.

Among these measures are the postponement of the repayment of maturities of bank loans and those linked to leasing loans until June 30 and the activation of an additional line of credit by the Caisse centrale de garantie (CCG) for the benefit of companies whose turnover fell due to the decline in its activity, including those involved in the real estate sector, he said.

The Minister pointed out that the statistics, until Friday, April 24, relating to applications to postpone the repayment of bank loans installments and those linked to leasing loans amounted to 416,000 requests, totalling 33 billion dirhams.

In addition to the 310,000 requests that have been processed and accepted, 5% have been rejected and the other applications are still in the study phase, added Benchaâboun.

Concerning the exceptional loans guaranteed by the State through Damane Oxygène, set up to support companies whose turnover does not exceed 500 million dirhams, they reached 9000 loans of a total amount exceeding 3.7 billion of dirhams, of which 124 were rejected, that is less than 1.5%, he said.

Companies whose turnover for the financial year 2019 is less than 20 million dirhams were also allowed to benefit, if they wish, from the postponement of the filing of tax declarations until June 30, 2020, in addition to postponing the date of declaration of income for natural persons, if they wish, from the end of April to June 30, 2020, he noted.

These measures also concern the exemption from income tax on each additional allowance paid for the benefit of salaried employees affiliated to the CNSS by their employers, within the limit of 50% of the average monthly net salary and providing for self-entrepreneurs affected by the "Covid 19" crisis an interest-free loan that could reach 15,000 dirhams, concluded the minister.