The Moroccan dirham appreciated by 0.47% against the euro and 1.39% against the US dollar in the first quarter of 2024, according to the Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) report on monetary policy. The euro, for its part, increased by 0.90% against the US dollar, contributing to the increase in the value of the dirham in this context of fluctuations in major currencies.
Against the currencies of the main emerging countries, the dirham showed a notable performance, appreciating by 10.06% against the Turkish lira, by 1.28% against the Brazilian real, and by 0.89% against -vis the Chinese yuan. Taking into account these developments and the inflation differential with Morocco’s trading partners, the effective exchange rate of the dirham increased by 1.19% in nominal terms and decreased by 0.54% in real terms, reflecting an appreciation nominal accompanied by a slight deterioration in terms of price competitiveness.
Foreign currency transactions also experienced interesting dynamics in Q1 2024. The average volume of banks’ cash transactions with customers increased annually by 8.4%, reaching 33.7 billion dirhams for sales and 34.4 billion for purchases.
On the other hand, futures transactions recorded significant declines, with a decrease of 19.4% for purchases, totaling 13.8 billion dirhams, and of 14.2% for sales, reaching 3.3 billion dirhams. .
M.Ba.
