Moroccan Dirham Weakens Against Euro and Dollar as Foreign Reserves Decline

During this period, no foreign exchange auction operation was carried out, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) indicates, while specifying that as of December 9, 2022, the outstanding official reserve assets stood at 328.4 billion dirhams (MMDH), down 0.6% from the previous week, the same source said.

BAM reports that an amount of 103.9 MMDH was injected, including 56.3 MMDH in the form of 7-day advances on call for tenders and 22.1 MMDH in outstanding long-term repurchase agreements and 25.5 MMDH in long-term guaranteed loans, during the same period.

On the interbank market, the daily average trading volume stood at 8.8 MMDH. As for the interbank rate, it stood at an average of 2.08%, incorporating the effect of the Bank’s decision to raise the key rate by 50 basis points taken on December 20, 2022. At the tender on December 21 (value date December 22), the Bank injected an amount of 63.7 MMDH in the form of 7-day advances.

On the stock market, the MASI depreciated by 2.8%, thus bringing its underperformance since the beginning of the year to 18%. This development is explained by the declines in the indices of the telecommunications sector by 4.7%, the buildings and construction materials sector by 4.5% and the banking sector by 2.9%. In contrast, those of real estate investment companies and insurance companies increased by 1.6% and 0.6% respectively.

As for the overall trading volume, it reached 2.9 MMDH after 2.1 MMDH the previous week. Regarding the average daily volume on the central equity market, it stood at 67.9 MDH against 145 MDH the previous week.

The central bank also recalls that the week was also marked by the capital increase in cash reserved for CIH Bank staff members for a total amount of nearly 400 MDH.