Rabat — The Moroccan dirham (MAD) continues to depreciate against the US dollar (USD), passing the conversion milestone of MAD nine to one USD after a nearly 1% hike this week.
The Moroccan dirham depreciated by 0.77% this week against the USD, as the rate of exchange, rose from MAD 8.94 per dollar to MAD 9.02 per dollar over the past seven days.
At the time of writing, the conversion rate currently sits at MAD 9.03 per USD.
This recent fall may mark the end of the heavy appreciation the dirham has experienced against the USD since the start of the coronavirus pandemic: a trend due in large part to the United States’ severe pandemic recession as the country with the world’s highest COVID-19 case numbers.
In early April 2020, towards the beginning of global lockdowns, the dirham’s value against the dollar stood at a historic low: around MAD 10.27 per USD, making the dirham worth less than a dime in the United States ($0.10).
However, the MAD’s comparative value continued to climb over the past ten months, despite necessary yet economically-damaging COVID-19 policies like curfews and quarantines across Morocco.
The conversion rate peaked for Morocco in early January 2021, when one US dollar could be bought for only MAD 8.8. However, Morocco’s relative currency value has started to drop once again, crossing the MAD 9 / USD 1 mark earlier this week for the first time since mid-December.
Despite the Moroccan dirham’s recent depreciation against the US dollar, the currency’s value has continued to appreciate against other major global currencies like the Euro (EUR) and the Japanese Yen (JPY).
Read also: Moroccan Dirham Appreciates Against Euro, Depreciates Against Dollar
These inverse trends indicate the dirham’s drop in value against the dollar may have more to do with the United States’ own financial rebound than a decline in the Moroccan economy.
The United States is continuing to phase-in the country’s domestic economic reopening alongside its vaccine rollout program.
The US remains the world’s top administer of the COVID-19 vaccine, having already administered over 92 million doses from an arsenal dominated by its homegrown Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
