Morocco Races to Curb Informal Economy to Meet FATF Standards

Reducing the informal sector in the Moroccan economy is one of the measures the kingdom must take to comply with FATF standards. Since "some operators are laundering money by massively investing in real estate to evade taxes," reports L’Économiste.

The regularization gap remains considerable, since "many commercial transactions are still marked by the prevalence of underreporting, lack of valid invoices, smuggling, counterfeiting..." Although measures have been taken to integrate the units operating in the informal sector, the result was less good, mainly concerning the tax compliance of companies registered for the first time with the tax services.

The reminder of the Financial Intelligence Processing Unit (UTRF) regarding the national financial inclusion strategy which should facilitate access to banking services, especially for informal sector workers, including young people, self-employed, exporting SMEs in Africa, was addressed by the daily, not forgetting the self-employed status allowing small traders to be integrated into the formal economy, by setting up their business, through the banking channel. In addition, "money transfer companies have been transformed into payment institutions accustomed to opening payment accounts," the same source stressed.