The first auction of 2025 saw the Moroccan Treasury raise $700 million, while Bank Al-Maghrib forecasts a slowdown in GDP growth in 2024, estimated at 2.6% after an increase of 3.4% in 2023.
The Moroccan Treasury achieved a remarkable feat during the first auction of 2025, raising more than 7 billion dirhams, or approximately 700 million USD. This issue was received with great enthusiasm by the financial market, attracting a record demand of more than 12 billion dirhams (1.2 billion USD), a figure which had not been reached for five months.
The climate of confidence that accompanied this operation testifies to the solidity of Morocco’s economic fundamentals and the prudent management of its public finances. The yields of the securities offered showed a downward trend over maturities of 10, 20 and 30 years, with respective drops of 5, 4 and 22 basis points, thus illustrating a growing interest in long-term debt. However, the secondary curve revealed a slight upward trend across all segments, reflecting sustained demand and positive momentum in the bond market.
This resounding success only strengthens the credibility position of the Moroccan Treasury, which, despite the absence of immediate financing needs, succeeds in capturing the attention of investors. Indeed, with cash surpluses exceeding 12 billion dirhams (1.2 billion USD), Morocco benefits from sound management and a stable financial environment. Analysts from Attijari Global Research (AGR) agree that the Moroccan Treasury will continue to navigate the auction market without much pressure until the first quarter of 2025, thus consolidating confidence in the country’s management capabilities.
In the same spirit of pragmatic financial management, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), the central bank of Morocco, announced an ambitious initiative aimed at establishing a secondary market for doubtful or unpaid debts (CNP). This new market should make it easier for banks to transfer these debts, a sector which has seen its unpaid debts grow significantly in recent years. This measure is part of a set of reforms intended to maintain the country’s financial stability and strengthen the resilience of its banking sector.
The Moroccan financial sector, for its part, displays impressive resilience, as evidenced by the 17.3% increase in the aggregate net profit of banks in the first half of 2024. This dynamism is all the more remarkable as it is part of in a global economic context marked by numerous uncertainties.
On the macroeconomic level, Bank Al-Maghrib forecasts a slowdown in GDP growth in 2024, estimated at 2.6% after an increase of 3.4% in 2023. However, the outlook remains favorable in the medium term, with an acceleration expected at 3.9% in 2025 and 2026. Inflation, which had reached 6.1% in 2023, should see a clear decrease, settling at just 1% in 2024.
The success of the Treasury issue and the country’s solid economic foundations give it an increasingly favorable position in the concert of nations, consolidating its role as a key player in North Africa and beyond.
MK/ac/Sf/APA
