Morocco’s Airport Duty-Free Zones Spark Outrage: Dirham Debit Cards Rejected, Consumers Demand Change

Moroccans are suffering from the lack of unification of policies and standards regarding the acceptance of means of payment in the boarding areas of Moroccan airports. Debit cards in dirhams are accepted by some merchants in the duty-free zones of Marrakech-Ménara airport. However, this is not the case in the duty-free zones of other airports in the Kingdom, and in particular at the Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca. On site, merchants refuse this method of payment, preferring instead to use cash payment exclusively. This penalizes consumers.

According to the affected persons, the "duty-free" boarding areas are classified among the areas exempt from value-added tax, but they are geographically located within the borders of the kingdom, which requires the application of national laws, primarily the adoption of the national currency in payment transactions. The refusal to accept the Moroccan dirham in these areas creates a legal and economic problem that contradicts the fundamental principles of the Moroccan financial system, they argue.

The reasons for this refusal date back to the classification of transactions made by electronic payment terminals (POS) in the boarding areas as foreign currency transactions, particularly in euros, it is recalled. This had prompted banks to impose additional exchange and conversion fees on customers, thus increasing their costs and reducing the transparency of transactions.

Faced with this persistent situation, the persons concerned are calling on Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) and the competent authorities, primarily the Competition Council, to intervene.