Moroccan Expat Remittances Surge to Record $10.9 Billion in 2022

According to the CESE opinion, the increase in MRE transfers in recent years would be due to several factors, including the intensification of family solidarity due to the health crisis, the improvement of official exchange rates, the reorientation of transfers to formal channels, or the relative reduction in transfer costs, from 6.82% in the fourth quarter of 2019 to 6.04% in the same period of 2021.

42.3% of MREs make fund transfers to relatives, spouses and family, and more than 80% of MREs, aged over 60, make several transfers per year, the institution chaired by Ahmed Réda Chami specifies, noting that France, Italy and Spain, countries with a large Moroccan community, account for 57% of transfers. The Moroccan regions that have benefited the most from MRE transfers are the Oriental (25%), Casablanca-Settat (17%), Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima (13%) and Béni Mellal-Khénifra (11%), the opinion adds.

These MRE fund transfers generally allow their families to "improve their access to basic consumer goods, housing, water and electricity," the CESE details, noting that these transfers also contribute to "improving schooling or access to care", to the reduction of poverty and social inequalities. But the CESE points out that only "1.3% of transfers would be intended for investment and this marginal portion would seem, moreover, to be mainly destined for the real estate sector (40.7%)".

A rather low investment rate of MREs compared to that of expatriates from other African countries such as Nigeria (45%), Kenya (35%) or Senegal (5%). "The exploration of the causes of the weakness of the investment rate of MREs in their country of origin calls for in-depth studies to know if, where, and in what proportions the population in question in Morocco invests elsewhere than in Morocco," concludes the CESE, which recommends "actively opening the Mohammed VI Fund for Investment to MRE contributions and/or setting up an investment fund dedicated to MDMs".