Exchange Office

Articles

• Moroccan Buyers Fuel Surge in Spanish Property Purchases Amid Price Drop
  3 February 2021, by Sylvanus

  Moroccans residing in Morocco acquired a significant number of real estate properties in Spain in 2020. The Foreign Exchange Office has decided to audit the acquisition operations.
  In total, more than 3,000 real estate acquisition transactions were carried out last year by many Moroccans residing in the country, reports Assabah. At the origin of this rush towards Spain, the significant drop in real estate prices in the Iberian neighbor. According to the Spanish land registry, they are (…)

• Moroccan Diaspora Remittances Surge to $7.5 Billion in 2020, Defying Pandemic
  5 February 2021, by Bladi.net

  Remittances from Moroccans living abroad increased by 5% to a total of 67.997 billion DH (MDH) in 2020 compared to 64,779 billion in 2019, according to the Office des Changes.
  In 2020, travel receipts amounted to 36.364 billion DH, down 53.8% compared to 2019. As for expenditure, it also fell and is set at 49.6% to 10.542 billion. As for the surplus of the travel balance, it decreased by 55.3%, i.e. -32.003 billion DH.
  Regarding the net flow of foreign direct investment (FDI), it (…)

• Moroccan Diaspora Remittances Surge 8.8% to $660 Million Amid Pandemic
  3 March 2021, by Prince

  From January 2020 to January 2021, remittances made by Moroccans residing abroad (MREs) to Morocco climbed to nearly 5.9 billion dirhams, an increase of 8.8%.
  Remittances made by MREs to Morocco are on the rise. According to the latest statistics from the Office of Foreign Exchange, they are estimated at the end of January 2021 at more than 5.89 billion dirhams compared to 5.4 billion dirhams a year earlier, up 8.8% and 24% compared to the end of January 2017.
  These funds transferred by (…)

• Morocco Expands Financial Benefits for Expatriates, Foreign Exchange Office Announces
  3 May 2021, by Sylvanus

  The Foreign Exchange Office has designed and posted online a digital brochure on the exchange facilities and benefits granted to Moroccans residing abroad (MRE). From opening accounts to personal foreign exchange allocations, bank loans and guarantees, and foreign exchange investments in Morocco, the office explains everything.
  On the first part, the Foreign Exchange Office informs MREs that they can freely open, with their Moroccan bank, foreign currency accounts and convertible dirham (…)

• Moroccan Expat Remittances Surge 41.8% in Q1 2021, Offsetting Tourism Decline
  4 May 2021, by Jérôme

  In its latest bulletin on foreign trade indicators, the Office of Exchange reports a 41.8% increase in money transfers made by MREs in the first quarter of 2021. During the same period, the services trade balance recorded a 48.9% decline in its surplus to 11,457 MDH after the sharp drop in exports, unlike imports, i.e. a 34.9% drop in exports to 28.27 MMDH at the end of March 2021.
  A decline due to the more than 78.4% drop in travel receipts, which represent the major component of service (…)

• Morocco’s Trade Deficit Widens 10.4% as Exports Surge in Early 2021
  5 July 2021, by Jérôme

  The trade deficit reached 80.95 billion dirhams at the end of May 2021, an increase of 10.4% compared to the same period in 2020. This is what emerges from a note from the Office of Exchange on the monthly exchange indicators for the month of May 2021.
  The value of exports reached 126.68 billion dirhams for the first five months of the year, an increase of 23.5%, while imports increased by 18.1%, or 207.64 billion dirhams, said the Office of Exchange, adding that over the same period the (…)

• Morocco’s Automotive Exports Surge 49.5% in Early 2021, Matching Pre-Pandemic Levels
  7 July 2021, by Jérôme

  Automotive exports reached 35.4 billion dirhams during the first five months of 2021, an increase of 49.5% compared to the same period in 2020.
  This increase is mainly due to the 44% increase in sales in the construction segment, 47.4% in wiring and 41% in vehicle interiors and seats, according to the Foreign Exchange Office in its bulletin on the monthly indicators of foreign trade in May 2021, specifying that "these exports are equal to those made during the same period in 2019".
  As (…)

• Morocco’s Automotive Exports Drop 10% in 2020, Leading Trade Decline
  22 July 2021, by Armel

  Automotive exports, Morocco’s leading export sector for seven years, amounted to 72.18 billion dirhams (MMDH) in 2020, down 9.9% compared to 2019.
  In its 2020 annual report on trade transactions, the Foreign Exchange Office specifies that total merchandise exports (expressed free on board - FOB) fell by 7.6% to 262.8 MMDH, noting that the largest declines were observed in the automotive, textile and leather, and aeronautics sectors.
  In detail, the report states that this development (…)

• Morocco’s Maritime Trade Dominates, Atlantic Ports Handle 94% of Shipping
  23 July 2021, by Jérôme

  The most used mode of transport in the kingdom is the maritime mode with 91.4 million tons (MT), or 96.3% of the total exchanges carried out with the rest of the world. This is according to the annual report of the [Office des changes] on foreign trade for the year 2020.
  The majority of these exchanges (94%) of the traffic was carried out by the Atlantic ports between [Agadir] and Tangier, with Jorf Lasfar and Casa Port in the lead. The port of Jorf Lasfar accounted for 38.9% of maritime (…)

• Morocco’s Energy Bill Plummets 34.6% in 2020 Amid Falling Oil Imports
  24 July 2021, by Jérôme

  Morocco’s energy bill has dropped considerably in 2020. This emerges from the annual report on foreign trade for the year 2020, carried out by the Office des Changes.
  This drop is mainly due to the decrease in prices and the quantity of imports of gas-oils and fuel-oils by 39.8% and the imports of petroleum oil and lubricants by 61%. Energy products had already recorded a decline of 6 MMDH in 2019 following the drop in prices, the report said, specifying that imports of semi-products and (…)