Threatened Remittances of Moroccans Residing Abroad: Europe Raises Concerns for Moroccan Banks

Estimated at nearly 100 billion dirhams per year, the remittances of Moroccans living abroad represent 20% of bank resources and 8% of Morocco’s gross domestic product. They contribute to financing more than a third of the trade deficit and boost the kingdom’s economy. From this point of view, Moroccan banks present in Europe do not look favorably on the European directive aimed at putting an end to the transfer of funds by foreigners to their country of origin without creating economic value within the Union.

This measure, which concerns all foreign banks in the EU, will undoubtedly have a major negative impact on Moroccan banks and their relationship with Moroccans residing abroad, observes the economic analyst Ali Ghnabouri, informing that the EU has already begun to tighten transfer operations to Morocco, thus affecting the remittances of Moroccans residing abroad. In a statement to Al3omk, the expert believes that the EU is swimming against the current by taking this measure in a context where the trend is to reduce the costs of fund transfers in order to facilitate the lives of members of the Moroccan community abroad.

This measure will lead to an increase in the costs of remittances from Moroccans residing in Europe, and consequently, a decrease in the amounts transferred by the latter to their families in Morocco. It will also limit the ability of Moroccan banks to offer quality financial services to the diaspora, and is also an obstacle to their growth, as the directive prohibits the opening of accounts with banks located outside the European Union. According to Ghanbouri, the EU, through this measure, wants to control the flow of money.