Morocco: Central Bank investigates errors

Official sources from the Central Bank of Morocco revealed that the authorities responsible in the organization opened an internal investigation with the senior officials who oversee the operations concerning foreign currency exchange in the Kingdom. These sources informed ArabsToday that the internal investigation opened after the management came across information which caused them to suspect the presence of errors in the reports concerning the amount of foreign currency transferred abroad by Moroccan banks. However, central bank officials have denied knowledge of any internal investigation on transfers of foreign currencies from Morocco to other countries. One source also pointed out that such reports, which should be directed on a regular basis to the Governor of the Central Bank of Morocco, did not complete some of them as required by the administrative regulations of the bank.  It noteworthy that the reserves of hard currency in the Central Bank of Morocco have fallen, and it was announced recently that the foreign currency reserves of the Kingdom of Morocco declined by 7% in the first five months of 2011, settling in the range of 179 billion dirhams (23 billion dollars), which puts Morocco in a difficult situation, especially in light of the increasing levels of imported goods and fuel, which is eating up the bulk of Moroccan reserves of hard currency from abroad.