The Moroccan Minister of Economics and Finance has taken upon himself to begin acting on the promises he had made with regards the Casablanca Stock Exchange.
Mr. Fathallah Oualalou "should propose to the government several tax incentives in order to boost the Stock Exchange", stated the Le Matin du Maghreb et du Sahara. One of the proposals should be a decrease of taxes for new quoted companies.
However, nothing is official yet, but once the measures will be acted upon, it will form a good incentive for new companies to enter the currently liquid-lacking market. In the past two years only one company succeeded in being accepted for trading on the bourse.
This measure is politically significant because it proves the government’s awareness of the significance of the capital market in boosting the economy as a whole.
However, in order to make the stock market more attractive in the eyes of numerous potential companies, several details should be reevaluated—the most crucial being the tax on capital gains. Capital gains tax has penalized personal savings and thus caused unwillingness to trade in the market.
Fathallah Oualalou, by wanting to diminish such taxes, aims at showing the public his willingness for change, by helping the market recover from its recent crash. –l (Albawaba-MEBG)
