Currency Exchange Offices in Morocco Face Crisis Amid Tourism Slump

The owners of currency exchange offices no longer know which way to turn, reports Le360. Heavily impacted by the coronavirus, their activity has been declining since the government decided to close its air borders due to the coronavirus.

For most of these foreign exchange professionals, customers are scarce. They receive the visit of one or two, or even three customers for the whole day. "Over an entire working day, we receive one customer, or two at most. Some days, no customer crosses the threshold of the shop," laments one of them.

After having laid off part of his staff, he promises to thank a few more employees if the situation does not improve. Like their other colleagues, Anouar and Abdellah are doomed to succeed or close. "We benefited from the CNSS allowance for 3 months, until July. But after that, given our high costs, we were forced to cut our workforce," adds Anouar.

They plead to diversify their activity, "We have a unique activity and we are not allowed to have others. We would like to be able to carry out other activities, such as money transfer," says Anouar. While continuing his explanations, he assures that the foreign exchange office is determined to support them. Unfortunately, cash specialists are putting pressure on the government not to authorize them.