Morocco Secures Breakthrough Deal with France to Protect Overseas Remittances

The efforts made by Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), several banks, the Moroccan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Economy and Finance are starting to bear fruit. Morocco has, in fact, reached an agreement with France, and more specifically the French Treasury, on this issue which has raised great concerns in Morocco, revealed Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of BAM, at the end of the second quarterly meeting of the BAM council for the year 2025, held on Tuesday, June 24. He now feels more reassured.

"The French Treasury has well understood the problem and the difficulties posed by this European directive for Morocco. It asked us for additional information which we provided. We felt a good understanding and consideration on its part of the interest and importance of the relay activity of Moroccan banks for the MRE and the balance of payments of Morocco. This has resulted in a good relaxation of the French position on this subject," he said with satisfaction.

According to Jouahri, this agreement will be finalized at a meeting in July next year between the Moroccan side and the French Treasury, before being submitted for validation to the European Commission. Once this decisive step has been taken, the Moroccan authorities will turn to other European countries where the presence of MRE is important, namely Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, he continued. His wish is to see the definitive settlement of this problem in 2026.