Moroccan Household Savings Rise as Bank Debt Declines Amid Pandemic

In its 2020 report on banking supervision, Bank Al Maghrib (BAM) analyzed the situation of household indebtedness, noting an improvement of 104.1 billion dirhams in household financial assets in 2020.

"This development mainly reflects an increase of 50.4 billion dirhams in their cash holdings, as well as an increase of 42.8 billion in their deposits, with in particular a rebound of 45.1 billion dirhams in sight deposits," explains the central bank, specifying that holdings in UCITS securities remained stable after an improvement of 1.2 billion a year earlier.

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Household debt is held 84% by banks and 16% by finance companies, standing at 13.9 billion dirhams in 2020 compared to 20.5 billion in 2019, the report notes, adding that of this total, the share of consumer credit fell by 2.6 billion dirhams after an increase of 6.8 billion dirhams in favor of housing credit.

On the other hand, the financial transactions of public administrations with residents were marked by an increase in the flow of their liabilities as well as a slowdown in that of their claims, observes the Central Bank.