Exchange Office

Articles

• Moroccan Real Estate Developers Under Investigation for Undeclared Foreign Currency Payments
  14 April, by Prince

  Real estate developers are accused of not declaring significant sums received from Moroccans Residing Abroad (MRE) for the purchase of apartments in Morocco.
  Developers have required MREs to pay part of the agreed amount in foreign currencies, particularly in euros, and the rest in Moroccan dirhams, reports Hespress. Subsequently, these developers failed to declare these sums to the authorities, which aroused suspicions from the control services of the Exchange Office, who opened in-depth (…)

• Moroccan Authorities Probe Offshore Accounts Linked to Paris Real Estate Purchases
  11 April, by Said

  Several Moroccan businessmen are in the sights of the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office. An in-depth investigation has been launched regarding the alleged use of "offshore" bank accounts, located in particular in the Bahamas and Saint Lucia, to acquire prestigious real estate in the heart of Paris.
  The alert was raised by French financial control bodies and the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF), following information on suspicious financial flows, according to Hespress. The (…)

• Moroccan National Caught Smuggling Over 40,000 Euros at Tanger-Med Port
  4 February 2019, by Said

  The sum of 40,320 euros was seized on Sunday by customs services at the port of Tanger-Med, according to a customs source cited by the MAP.
  The Moroccan was trying to bring this sum into the country without the authorization of the Customs and Indirect Taxes Administration, the source said, according to which it was a thorough inspection of the luggage on an international bus from France that "allowed to get hold" of this money.
  The sum was seized and "the person was subjected to the (…)

• Morocco’s Foreign Direct Investment Surges 28.6% to 33.5 Billion Dirhams in 2018
  23 January 2019, by Said

  33.5 billion dirhams. This is the amount of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year in Morocco, the Office of Foreign Exchange has just announced.
  This figure is up sharply by 28.6% compared to 2017, the office said, explaining that it is due to an increase in revenue of 11.6 billion dirhams higher than the increase in expenditure (+4.1 billion dirhams).
  As for the Travel balance, it recorded a surplus of 54.3 billion dirhams, compared to 54.8 the previous year. This development is (…)

• Morocco’s Trade Slumps: Imports Down 15.9%, Exports Fall 8.4% in November
  4 January 2021, by Bladi.net

  Imports and exports (automotive, textile and leather and aeronautics) showed a decline of 15.9% and 8.4% respectively at the end of November 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to recent statistics from the Office des Changes. However, there is an increase in sales in the agriculture and phosphates and derivatives sectors.
  In detail, food imports amounted to 50.90 billion dirhams at the end of November 2020 compared to 43.75 billion dirhams at the end of November 2019, reports

• Moroccan Tax Authorities Target High-Earning Social Media Influencers
  25 March 2021, by Ginette

  Moroccan influencers have started flaunting their wealth on social media, piquing the curiosity of tax officials who reveal that they have evidence "that most of these influencers prefer to be paid in cash to avoid having a trace of their financial transactions," reports Hespress.
  Some influencers can "receive millions of dirhams," since they "do not declare their annual income." The Directorate of Taxes has decided to put an end to "the anarchy on social networks" by legally dissecting (…)

• Remittances to Morocco Dip 1.7% in 2018, Foreign Investment Rises
  7 February 2019, by Said

  Funds transferred by Moroccans residing abroad are slightly down, according to the Foreign Exchange Office in a note on its monthly indicators of foreign trade for the 2018 fiscal year.
  They were set at 64.8 billion dirhams for the year 2018, down 1.7% compared to the previous year, it is specified. In its previous notes, particularly those of last November and December, the office had already reported declines in these flows.
  Regarding Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Morocco, it (…)

• Remittances to Morocco Plummet 5.7% as Foreign Investment Drops 47%
  4 May 2019, by Said

  Money transfers from Moroccans living abroad to their country of origin have seen a sharp decline, according to the latest figures released by the Office of Exchange.
  In its note on foreign trade indicators for the first three months of the year, it shows a sharp 5.7% drop compared to last year’s figures. The MREs transferred 15.098 billion dirhams, compared to 16.003 billion dirhams a year earlier.
  During the same period, foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to Morocco stood at 3.138 (…)

• Moroccan Expats in Gulf Countries Send Home $1.2 Billion in 2018
  26 May 2019, by Said

  Moroccans living in the Gulf countries are sending more and more money to their country of origin, as shown by the latest figures just released by the Foreign Exchange Office.
  Thus, last year, they transferred some 11.6 billion dirhams, or about 17.8% of the total amount sent by Moroccans living abroad, reports the site telquel.ma.
  In detail, Moroccans in Saudi Arabia sent 4.54 billion dirhams, those in Qatar 1.26 billion dirhams and those living in Kuwait transferred a little over 1 (…)

• Moroccan Expatriate Remittances Surge 48% Amid Travel Sector Decline
  29 July 2021, by Jérôme

  During the first half of 2021, remittances from Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) reached more than 44.19 billion dirhams (MMDH), compared to only 29.83 MMDH in the same period last year, an increase of 48.1%.
  The indicators published by the [Foreign Exchange Office] also report a 33.1% decrease in the surplus of the services trade balance to 21.73 MMDH, due to the drop in recorded exports and the increase in imports.
  Regarding "travel", the main component of trade in services, its (…)