Generalization of family allowances and impact on monetary child poverty and vulnerability in the post-covid period in Morocco

In this article, we evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the compensatory measures taken by the government to mitigate the consequences of this crisis on the monetary poverty and vulnerability of the Moroccan population and their children. In addition, given the urgent need to accelerate the reform of the social protection system, which has become a national priority, we evaluate the impact of the generalization of family allowances, a programme to be implemented by 2023. To do so, we use a microsimulated model applied to data from the 2019 wave of the Enquête Panel de ménages. From a punctual and distributional analysis, our results show that the measures implemented by the government, in addition to compensating for the effect of the pandemic on poverty and vulnerability, also prove to have been pro-poor. This effect is clearly reinforced by the generalization of family allowances, particularly in urban areas. The latter also appears to be a relatively inexpensive measure for Morocco, with fairly simple targeting and favourable effects on poverty and vulnerability, both for Moroccans in general and for their children.