Moroccan dirham currency remains almost stable by end of 2021, BAM

The Moroccan dirham’s currency rate remained stable at ±5% by the end of 2021 due to the robust transactions carried out by Moroccans living abroad and the noticeable performance of exports, mainly fertilizers.

Bank Al-Maghrib said in its latest annual report that the national currency has completed over 4 years of gradual liberalization, as a new fluctuation range was adopted in 2018 at ±2.5%, instead of ±0.3% in the past, and in 2020 the margin was expanded to ±5%.

Compared to the currencies that make up its basket, the Moroccan dirham rose over the whole year against both the euro and the US dollar, with respective rates of 1.8% and 5.7%.

The evolution against the US currency reflects market effects of 3.5% and basket effects of 2.2%, said BAM.

Additionally, the national currency increased by 32% on average against the Turkish lira, and by 12.2% against the Brazilian real.

In contrast, the Moroccan dirham dropped by 1.5% against the pound sterling and by 1.3% against the Chinese yuan, added BAM’s report.

The effective exchange rate rose by 3.6% in nominal terms, and domestic inflation remained lower than in the main partner and competitor countries, while the increase was set at 1.3% in real terms, further stated the same source.

Regarding trade volume, Morocco’s central bank said that cash transactions with customers reached a monthly average of MAD 28.3 billion for purchases, up compared to 21.8 billion recorded a year earlier, and MAD 30.4 billion in sales, up compared to MAD 22.9 billion recorded previously.

Purchases in forward transactions reached MAD 15.6 billion, up compared to 11.1 billion recorded a year earlier, and sales remained almost stable at MAD 3.5 billion, added the same source.

The average volume of transactions on the interbank market fell slightly by 0.8%, reaching MAD 19.8 billion, suffering from a situation of excess liquidity in foreign currencies, according to the same source.