Ministry Financial Requirements

Total forestry budgets since 1990 have averaged 322 million dirham with a standard deviation for this period of about 32 million dirham. Funding levels in this decade represent a drop from the total budget of 350 million dirham available in 1987.

For the budget général the average has been just over 181 million dirham since 1990 with a standard deviation of just over 30 million dirham. The maximum annual contributions from the general budget during this period reached 241 million dirham in 1993 with the minimum of 147 million dirham occurring in 1995. For the comptes spéciale the average, since 1990, has been about 141 million dirham with a standard deviation of about 29 million dirham, a maximum of 178 million dirham occurring in 1990 and a minimum of 43 million dirham in 1995.

There is a perception by some observers that recent funding levels constitute a "stabilisation" of Ministry budgets. The year to year fluctuation for budgets is obvious in the statistics presented in the previous paragraph. Analysis conducted for budgets for the slightly longer period 1987 to 1999 showed higher levels of fluctuation, with standard deviations higher by 75% or more. Additionally, the discrepancy between Ministry needs and actual budget allocations is extreme. Both observations bring into question the suggestion that budgets have stabilised.

Table 3.1 presents details of MCEF budgets since 1990.

Table 3.1: Annual MCEF budgets since 1990
Source	Annual budget contributions ('000 000 DH)
Source	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1988	av.
general budget	173.85	179.83	169.98	241.32	195.95	147.42	161.63	194.94	199.99	183.00
of which IBRD	56.04	67.51	102.06	140.59	114.49	76.09	69.84	48.45		84.38
of which ADB	1.70	30.71	36.36	39.66	29.62	31.84	40.18	26.02		29.51
(total external)
special account	174.34	176.19	105.52	107.90	134.04	43.33	144.57			141.41

Total	352.19	356.02	275.50	349.22	330.00	290.76	140.65	306.20		324.41

Of significance is the extent of external financing upon which forest financing in Morocco depends. Since 1990, contributions from a World Bank loan have averaged 46% of the MCEF budget (ranging from 32% to 60%). An ADB loan has ranged from about 10% to 26% and averaged about 16% over this same period.

The distribution of the expenditures of MCEF budgets since 1990 is shown in Table 3.2 immediately following.

Table 3.2: MCEF budget expense distribution since 1990
item	%
Budget d'Investissement
actions de mise en valeur du domaine forestier (PFN II)	60
actions de conservation de ressources naturelles	15
actions de développement et de conservation	25
Budget des comptes spéciale
acquisition de terrains construction de maisons forestiéres et de bâtiment administrative, aménagement et rénovations, informatisation	12.3
domaine forestier: overture de chemins, délimitations, inentaites, protections	14.1
economie forestiére, aménagement de forêts, régénération, conduite des peuplements, améliorations de parcoures, études	24
reboisement, DRS, conservation des sols	42
chasse, pêche et protection de la nature	5.2
recherche forestiére, formation continue et appui scientifique	2.4

The current MCEF funding initiative is presented within the quinquennium 1999-2003, which proposes an annual requirement of 1,066 million dirham. Using the annual average of 322 million dirham calculated above, this represents roughly 850 million dirham above current annual funding levels.

Also of interest is the observation that a number of forestry responsibilities are currently being assumed by ministries other than the MCEF (see section 5.1.12). The above budget shortage therefore even further understates actual Ministry requirements if it were to properly assume these responsibilities as well.