An online boycott campaign protesting rising food prices in Morocco has prompted the local unit of French dairy giant Danone to cut raw milk purchases and plan layoffs, underscoring the political and economic cost of simmering unrest in the North African monarchy. It later expanded to include the country's fish markets, as anger simmered over the uptick in consumer prices that hit 2.7 percent in April, its highest level since 2013 . Shares of Total Maroc, the only listed fuel distributor, have fallen by almost 10 percent since the boycott began. Other measures to lower prices included capping fuel prices – a move that came after the 2015 decision to liberalize the sector helped distributors realize increases in profits of as much as 300 percent.

Source: The North Africa Journal May 30, 2018 21:00 UTC