Overview of Morocco’s Financial System
Morocco’s central bank, Barid Al Maghrib (BAM), has reported a decline in check payment issues in 2024, despite the country’s credit market continuing to grow steadily. The Central Payment Incidents Database recorded 487,613 payment incidents in 2024, which represents a 4.7% decrease from the previous year. The total value of these incidents also fell by 4% to MAD 16.1 billion ($1.77 billion).
Payment Incident Trends
However, people resolved more payment problems than before. The number of regularizations jumped 50.4% to 192,346 cases, while the total amount nearly doubled to MAD 5.4 billion ($594.288 million). This increase is mainly attributed to an amnesty program for people who wrote bad checks, which ran throughout 2024.
Payment Methods: A Mixed Bag
While check problems decreased, issues with Standardized Bills of Exchange rose 5.5% to 617,967 cases. People resolved 27,432 of these cases, slightly up from 27,149 in 2023. The Irregular Checks service monitored over 17.6 million bank account numbers that showed irregularities. Most of these problems came from 15.6 million closed accounts, followed by 2.1 million accounts with banking or judicial prohibitions, and 485,000 unavailable accounts. Banks also blocked 3.2 million checks due to stop-payment orders.
Credit Market Growth
Morocco’s credit market expanded modestly in 2024. The number of active credit contracts rose 1% to 5.8 million. Banks provided 66% of these contracts, while microcredit associations handled 17%, financing companies managed 16%, and Islamic banks covered the remaining 1%. The total number of borrowers stayed stable at 3.2 million clients, with individual borrowers making up 95% of this figure.
Amnesty Program: A Success Story
The significant increase in payment problem resolutions reflects the success of Morocco’s amnesty program for bad check writers. This program encouraged people to settle their outstanding payment issues, leading to a dramatic jump in regularizations and a doubling of resolved amounts. The overall trend suggests that while Morocco’s financial system handled more credit activity, the quality of payment behavior improved thanks to both the amnesty program and better financial practices among consumers.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Morocco’s financial system has shown positive trends in 2024, with a decline in check payment issues and an increase in payment problem resolutions. The amnesty program for bad check writers has been a significant factor in this improvement. As the country’s credit market continues to grow, it is essential for consumers to maintain good financial practices and for the government to implement effective policies to promote financial stability.
