Morocco’s Foreign Currency Reserves Increase by 7,5%

Net international reserves amounted to MAD 252.9 billion as of February 17, an increase of 7.5 percent year-on-year, according to Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) numbers.

From one week to the next, these reserves increased by 0.1 percent, says BAM, which has just published its weekly indicators, noting that during the week of February 9-15, the dirham appreciated by 0.53 percent against the euro and depreciated by 0.79 percent against the dollar, according to BAM.

During the week of February 16-22, the total amount of Bank Al-Maghrib’s interventions amounted to MAD 13.5 billion, of which 9 billion were injected as 7-day advances through a call for tenders, stated the BAM, noting that an amount of MAD 4.5 billion was granted under the support program for the financing of small and medium businesses.

According to the BAM, during this period, the interbank rate remained unchanged at 2.25 percent and the volume of trade stabilized at MAD 3.8 billion.

On the stock markets, the MASI depreciated by 2.7 percent, BAM explains this evolution mainly by the decrease of the sectoral indices “Banks” by 3.4 percent, telecommunications by 4.8 percent, construction materials by 0.9 percent and real estate by 1.8 percent.

As for transactions, they amounted to MAD 663.9 million after MAD 789 million registered a week before.

In the central market, the average daily exchange amount was at MAD 128.5 million instead of 136.1 million a week earlier.

On a year-on-year basis, the pace of growth of the M3 aggregate declined by 5 percent from 5.2 percent in November 2016. This trend mainly reflects an increase in the fall of deposits to 4.5 percent after the 1.7 percent rise in the previous month and a deceleration of growth by 6.7 percent in banks demand deposits.

On the other hand, net claims on central government saw their decline stop at 1.9 percent after 6.8 percent in November, while net international reserves increased by 12.1 percent instead of 13.1 percent.

Source :Morocco World News