Bank loans in Morocco recorded a year-on-year growth of 4.5 percent last December, after it recorded 5.2 percent in the previous month, with an increase in loans granted to the non-financial sector by 3.9 percent.
According to the Central Bank, this development reflects the slowdown in the growth of loans granted to private non-financial companies from 6 percent to 4.7 percent, and the acceleration of the growth of loans to families from 2.7 to 3.4 percent, and those granted to non-financial public companies by 0.5 percent after plus 4.4 percent compared to the previous month.
The distribution of loans granted to the non-financial sector according to the economic purpose indicates a continuous decline in consumer loans from 3.3 to 4.2 per cent, an acceleration in the growth of real estate loans from 2.1 to 2.5 percent, and a decrease in equipment loans at 3 percent after plus 1.5 percent.
The Central Bank of Morocco revealed that the annual growth rate of the monetary mass (M3) increased on an annual basis by 8.5 percent last December, compared to 7.7 percent a month earlier. This development mainly reflects the increase in the growth of demand deposits with banks to 10.6%, the further decline in term accounts from 12.9% to 9.6% and the slowdown in the rate of money circulation from 20.6% to 20.1%.
In contrast, the growth rate of net official reserves assets advanced by 26.6 percent after 18.2 percent, while net debt owed to the central administration witnessed a decline of 18.7 percent from 25.7 percent.
Source (Asharq Al-Awsat Newspaper, Edited)
