Morocco Sets New Measures to Financially Support Enterprises, Individuals

Rabat – Morocco’s Economic Watch Committee (CVE) has taken several measures concerning enterprises and individuals affected by the COVID-19 crisis during its seventh meeting held virtually on Friday, May 8.

Regarding measures for individuals, the CVE decided that the state and the banking sector will bear the full cost of the periodic interest accrual resulting from the postponement of maturities on housing and consumer loans for the period of March to June 2020.

The measure concerns individuals with monthly credit maturities of up to MAD 3,000 ($300) for housing loans and up to MAD 1,500 ($150) for consumer loans, including those contracted with finance companies.

The postponement of credit maturities will benefit approximately 400,000 people.

To provide appropriate conditions for an accelerated economic resumption post-pandemic, the committee decided to set up a flexible system covering all corporate sectors.

The CVE subsequently decided to review and make Damane Oxygene more flexible by improving the conditions of funding access for a successful economic restart. The measure concerns micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in addition to intermediate-sized enterprises (ETI).

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Access to funding through the Damane Oxygene, which allocated MAD 500 million ($50 million) to support companies in difficulty, will be extended until December 31, 2020, with no guarantees required.

The program will integrate those companies whose annual turnover exceeds MAD 500 million ($50 million) into a suitable mechanism to finance their recovery.

The CVE explained that the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Administration Reform, Bank Al-Maghrib, the General Union for Moroccan Contracting, and the Professional Group of Moroccan Banks will soon finish setting out procedures relating to the mechanism’s application.

After examining the situation of public institutions and enterprises, the CVE decided to create a special guarantee fund. The measure will enable the concerned institutions to access new financial resources necessary to enhance their permanent financing capabilities in order to achieve sustainable growth.