Moroccan Consumer Confidence Surges, Boosting Real Estate and Bank Lending

"The outstanding loans to individuals and Moroccans living abroad increased by 4.3% at the end of March, year-on-year, to 223 billion dirhams. Participatory housing finance accounts for nearly half of the growth with an outstanding amount up 52% to 12.4 billion DH," reports L’Économiste, specifying that "sales have resumed since September and have remained on a good momentum since the beginning of the year".

The time is favorable to benefit from bank financing under interesting conditions. "From an average of 4.4% in 2020, interest rates would get a little closer to 4% at the beginning of this year," the newspaper points out, seeing this as an incentive to demand credit. In the first three months of the year, new car sales climbed 37% and a double-digit increase in low-cost vehicle registrations was noted.

Thus, observes the daily, the behavior of households does not conform to their statements in the HCP business survey, where they considered the situation unfavorable for the acquisition of durable goods. The balance of opinion of this indicator remained negative at -61.5 points against -61.2 points in the fourth quarter of 2020 and -32.6 points in the first quarter.