Marruecos anuncia los requisitos para recibir ayudas económicas durante la Operación Marhaba
The Moroccan Ministry of Equipment, Transport and Finance have jointly issued a decree on compensation in Operation Marhaba. According to the ministries, a Moroccan passport, national identity card or other official document proving Moroccan nationality will be required. Also, proof of residence abroad and round-trip boat tickets must be provided. In the case of minors, they must be accompanied by an official document accrediting their guardianship. All this information must be provided through an electronic portal created by the Merchant Navy Directorate, a body of the Ministry of Equipment and Transport. Subsequently, eligible citizens will receive a dirham transfer to their Moroccan bank accounts, or any other alternative accepted by the Merchant Navy. The Ministry has set up national and international toll-free numbers for any questions or doubts that may arise in the process.
The financial assistance will consist of 1,000 dirhams for tickets not exceeding 250 euros. If it is more than this amount, a supplement of 5 dirhams will be added for each extra euro. In addition, return tickets for a long-distance journey including car have been reduced to 995 euros for a family of four, and for a medium-distance journey the cost will be 450 euros. According to the Moroccan economic media Medias24, this aid for Moroccans abroad will cost the Alawi state 2 billion dirhams. This aid measure will be in force during Operation Marhaba, which runs from 15 June to 30 September.
Recently, King Mohammed VI ordered lower ticket prices for Moroccans living abroad and spending their holidays in Morocco. This measure also includes the country's airline, Royal Air Maroc (RAM), which flies to cities in France, Spain, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands with large Moroccan populations.
Rabat has also opened a reception centre at the headquarters of the Hassan II Foundation that will attend to the needs and requests of Moroccans abroad, especially legal and economic issues. The centre will be operational until 15 September and will be open from Monday to Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.
This year's Operation Marhaba will be particularly difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic, in particular the new Delta variant spreading across Europe. Morocco has imposed strong health measures that will affect all citizens travelling to the Kingdom in the summer. Rabat has created a classification within the countries: List A and List B. People coming from the first list will have to present a vaccination certificate or a negative PCR test, while citizens arriving from list B will have to undergo a 10-day quarantine and present a negative PCR test. The Moroccan health authorities have again warned of "further deterioration" if citizens do not comply with the measures imposed. In addition, the Ministry of Health has already reported more than 40 cases of the Delta variant, first detected in India.
