Morocco’s Economic Woes Deepen as 9,000 Companies Face Bankruptcy in 2023

Morocco is one of the countries where the economic situation and unpaid bills are suicidal for companies. "A low level of growth in the kingdom could lead to a deterioration of payment conditions. It is clear that with growth not expected to exceed 2%, the threat to businesses remains high. The number of bankruptcies could exceed the threshold of 9,000 companies," notes the newspaper L’Économiste, which adds that no sector is spared. Moreover, defaults such as payment delays would cost one point of GDP. This places Morocco in the same zone as Italy and Greece. Payment delays continue to increase and reach up to 150 days in some sectors.

To put things in order, the draft law tabled this Thursday on the government’s table provides for fines to feed a support fund for SMEs. "Inter-company receivables reached 420 billion dirhams in 2019, compared to 390 billion dirhams in 2018," or the equivalent of 42% of GDP. As for payment delays, they occur in 40% of business failures.

The implementation of an integrated program to support and finance companies, with the involvement of banks, is not to be excluded. However, iterations will have to be made to improve the system and make it effective. Hence the need for a real impact assessment of the system.