Morocco’s Bank Lending Grows 3.3% in Q1 2021, Real Estate Loans Rise

The pace of bank credit growth went from 4 to 3.3% at the end of March 2021, according to the latest statistics from Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM). Real estate loans improved by 2.6% during the period, with an overall outstanding amount of 285.17 billion dirhams, notes the central bank, which specifies that housing loans increased by +4.3%, i.e. 225.77 billion dirhams, participatory financing experienced a jump of +52.1%, i.e. 12.39 billion dirhams and loans allocated to real estate developers, a decrease of −5.6%, i.e. 55.65 billion dirhams.

The outstanding amount of consumer loans, for its part, fell by 1.74 billion, to stand at 54.87 billion dirhams during the period, informs the same source, indicating that the annual growth rate of non-performing loans is estimated at 11.9% at the end of March, with 80.53 billion dirhams.

Regarding loans allocated to the non-financial sector, they increased by +3.1% compared to the same period in 2020, i.e. an outstanding amount of 821.10 billion dirhams, a consolidation of 24.46 billion dirhams, notes the central bank which states that the outstanding amount of the public sector is 72.72 billion dirhams, of which 24.49 billion dirhams are allocated to local authorities and 48.23 billion dirhams to public non-financial companies. Credits to private non-financial companies, for their part, are up +2.9%, with an outstanding amount of 748.37 billion dirhams, an increase of 25.37 billion dirhams year-on-year.