House of Representatives Adopts by Majority of Votes the 2023 Finance Bill in Second Reading

The House of Representatives adopted, on Thursday, December 8, 2022, the entire text of Finance Bill 50.22 for the fiscal year 2023, in a second reading. The adoption took place in a legislative plenary sitting chaired by the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Mohamed Sabbari, with the presence of the Minister of Economy and Finance, Ms. Nadia Fettah Alaoui; the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Economy and Finance in Charge of the Budget, Mr. Faouzi Lekjaa; and the Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in Charge of Relations with the Parliament, and Government Spokesperson, Mr. Mustapha Baïtas. 

During the sitting, 102 Representatives voted for Finance Bill 50.22, 27 voted against it, and no Representative abstained from voting.

The House of Representatives adopted the Finance Bill following its referral by the House of Councilors after adopting several amendments related to some tax provisions. In this respect, the Representatives called for preserving tax and territorial justice. They also called for adopting a vision towards tax stability. 

The lower House's amendments introduced to the Bill amounted to 53 amendments introduced to Articles 4, 6, 23, 40 (Table A), 45 (Table B), and Article 17 bis. The said amendments covered the articles related to taxation at source for natural and legal persons, reduction of the tax rate from 10% to 5% for legal persons, and from 15% to 10% for natural persons. 

It should be noted that the Government relied, in the elaboration of the 2023 Finance Bill, on several scenarios, including the increase of external demand (except for phosphates and its derivatives) by 2.5%, an agricultural crop of around 75 million quintals, an average gas price of 800$/ton, and an average euro-to-dollar exchange rate of 1.044. The Government also foresees a development rate of 4%, a budget deficit of 4.5% of the GDP, and an inflation rate of 2%.