Morocco Expands Financial Benefits for Expatriates, Foreign Exchange Office Announces

On the first part, the Foreign Exchange Office informs MREs that they can freely open, with their Moroccan bank, foreign currency accounts and convertible dirham accounts and have checkbooks and international payment and credit cards backed by the balances of said accounts and usable for their payments in Morocco or abroad. Regarding bank loans and guarantees, the institution indicates that MREs have the possibility to take out loans in dirhams to finance the acquisition or construction of a residence in Morocco, provided they make a minimum foreign exchange contribution of 30% of the price of the property to be acquired or built.

With regard to foreign exchange investments in Morocco, the public institution states that Moroccans of the world benefit from a convertibility regime allowing them to freely carry out investment operations financed by foreign exchange contributions, by debiting a foreign exchange account or a convertible dirham account. This regime guarantees them full freedom to transfer the income generated by these investments as well as the proceeds from the sale or liquidation of the investment, including any capital gains realized, it is specified.

On the issue of personal foreign exchange allocations, the Foreign Exchange Office provides clarification on the allocation for tourist travel abroad, the individual allocations granted to pilgrims as part of hajj and umrah religious trips, the departure allowance for students pursuing higher education abroad, the medical care allocation and finally family assistance to be transferred to family members in difficulty abroad.