La economía de Marruecos continúa al alza
The Kingdom's money supply recorded, in November 2022, an annual increase of 6.7% after 5% in the previous month, mainly due to the acceleration in the growth of net lending to the central government to 11.6% from 9.2%, after the Treasury drew on the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) for an amount of 21.1 billion dirhams. Also, Reserve Assets (ARO) increased by 6.8% after 5.9% in October 2022, while bank lending to the non-financial sector increased by 6.6% after 5.9% in October 2022. Loans to the non-financial sector recorded a slowdown in their progression from 6.3% to 6.1%.
Developments in loans to the non-financial sector include a slowdown in the growth of loans to private enterprises from 10.3 to 9.3%, an attenuation of the decline in the growth of loans to non-financial public enterprises from 4 to 1.5%, and an acceleration in the growth of loans to households from 3.4 to 1.5%. Growth in loans to households from 3.5% to 3.8%. By economic destination, the slowdown in the progression of loans to the non-financial sector comprises a deceleration from 18.8% to 17%; a deceleration in loans to private enterprises from 16.8% to 13.9%; and a slight slowdown in real estate loans from 2.7% to 2.5% with a significant decline in loans to real estate.
On the positive side, growth in loans for capital goods has improved to last year's level. Cash in circulation increased by 8.9% after rising by 7.2%, and money market mutual fund holdings increased by 25.6% from last year's 13.3%. The balance of time deposits declined from 12.2% to 7.7%; growth in bank demand deposits fell to 8.4% from 8.6%. Bank Al Maghrib (BAM) also reported a marked improvement in access to finance for Moroccan companies. The volume of loans issued to Moroccan companies increased to 1.024 trillion dirhams ($98 billion).
Companies operating in non-financial services blocked 491 billion dirhams ($47 billion) in bank loans. On the institutional side, the growth rate of monetary assets plus household holdings accelerated from 5.5 to 6%, including the growth rate of demand deposits from 8.1 to 7.5%, while the decline in time deposits slowed from 6.1 to 5.5%. Also, the growth rate of the monetary assets of private non-financial corporations increased from 10.3 to 11.9%, mainly because the share of their money market funds rose by 21.2%, compared with 8.1% in the previous year.
Although Moroccan companies have significantly improved access to finance, it remains a key barrier to growth. In December 2022, a report by Morocco's economic intelligence agency, the Higher Planning Commission (HCP), sounded alarm bells about the state of financing for Morocco's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). According to the HCP, although Moroccan SMEs are already underfunded, their access to finance will be even more restricted in 2021 compared to the previous year. Excluding the financial sector, other Moroccan companies blocked loans of 1.2 billion dirhams ($114 million) in 2021, compared to 7.4 billion dirhams ($702 million) in 2020.
