Briefing Paper

COVID-19: Between Urgency and Long Term

An examination, inevitably bound to be broad in scope, of the economic and social
implications for a country, in this case Morocco, of a sudden pandemic that has broken
out in virtually most parts of the world, can only be a prelude to a broader and more
comprehensive study to be undertaken in due course. For obvious reasons, especially
as the current crisis induced by the primacy of health, could later evolve into a form of
economic depression as various multifaceted aid and support programmes, adopted here
and there, are attempting to reduce the major foreseeable risks and mitigate serious social
shocks. Various choices and compelling trade-offs, ranging from short-term emergencies
to some realistic long-term projections thus seem modestly to open a new chapter in the
ongoing reflection.