RABAT, Dec 26, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Nearly a million low-income Moroccan families are due to receive government aid, authorities announced on Monday, launching the kingdom's first and much-awaited social benefits programme.

Beneficiaries will receive a direct monthly payment starting at 500 dirhams ($50), Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch told a government meeting, according to an official statement.

The first payments under the new scheme will be made on Thursday, it said.

Government spokesman Mustapha Baitas said in late October that the aid to families was expected to cost Morocco 25 billion dirhams through 2024.

The launch comes a decade after the programme was proposed, and as part of an overhaul of social services announced in 2020 by King Mohammed VI.

The king's agenda also introduced in 2021 basic health coverage for all Moroccans.

Once reserved only for civil servants and private sector employees, the health care scheme provided coverage for 3.8 self-employed Moroccans and their families, official news agency MAP said, based on data for September.

It also provided free health care to about 10 million low-income Moroccans, paid for by the state.

The reforms are rolled out at a time of economic slowdown and deepening inequalities in Morocco, a country of 36 million people.

According to the latest estimates by the central bank, Morocco's economy will end 2023 with a growth rate of 2.7 percent and 6.1 percent inflation.

Government aid so far has been indirect, with the state subsidising some goods but not offering payments to low-income people.