Moroccan Business Bankruptcies Surge 17% in 2022, Study Reveals

In total, 12,397 companies went bankrupt in Morocco in 2022, reports the Inforisk firm. In total, 99.2% of these failures concern very small businesses (VSEs), the same source adds, stating that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 0.7% and large enterprises (LEs) 0.1%. The low use of the safeguard procedure (just 27 in 2022) is one of the reasons for the increase in failures. According to the Inforisk firm, Moroccan companies are still "poorly informed" about the existing preventive measures, reports the MAP.

The same source will further specify that the share of safeguard procedures in failures in 2022 represents 0.25%, that of judicial reorganizations is 0.06%. As for the share of judicial liquidations, dissolutions, deregistrations and cessations in failures, it represents 99.69%.

The study also reveals that when cities are taken into account, the Casablanca-Rabat-Tangier axis is affected by nearly half of the failures (41%), ahead of Marrakech (7%), Fez (6%) and Agadir (4%). It also emerges that 33% of failed companies operate in the trade sector, 21% in real estate, 15% in construction and public works (BTP) and 8% in transport.

According to Inforisk, in 2022, for one failing company, there were 4 companies created. The firm will state that SME business creations have fallen sharply compared to 2021, and that the pace of failure progression has been "more important."