Casablanca – Remittances from Morocco’s diaspora reached more than MAD 71.42 billion ($7.5 billion) in the first eight months of 2022.
According to Morocco’s Foreign Exchange Office’s recent data, the number represents an increase of 11.3% compared to the same period in 2021, when remittances amounted to MAD 64.19 billion ($5.9 billion).
The recent figures also showed that the net flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the first eight months of this year was MAD 19.57 billion ($1.8 billion), up by 67.9% over the same period in 2021.
FDI income increased by 35.9% to MAD 26.73 billion ($2.4 billion) by the end of August, compared to MAD 19.67 billion ($1.8 billion) the previous year, while expenditures declined by 10.7%.
Read also: Morocco’s Central Bank Forecasts Diaspora Remittances to Reach $9 Billion in 2022
According to the Foreign Exchange Office, Moroccan direct investment abroad was MAD 11.94 billion ($1.1 billion) at the end of August, a 2.5% decrease from the same period in the previous year.
Transfers of these investments totaled MAD 8.13 billion ($744 million), a 17.3% decrease.
As a result, the net flow of Moroccan direct investment abroad grew by 58.2%, or more than MAD 1.39 billion ($127 million).
Compared to 2018, diaspora members’ money transactions grew by more than MAD 15 billion ($1.4 billion).
According to Statista, money transfers to Morocco from its diaspora contributed to around 5.8% of the country’s GDP in 2020.
In 2020, Morocco was ranked among the top 10 Arab countries in terms of remittances received, in a study conducted by the Union of Arab Banks.
In September, Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib, predicted that remittances from Moroccans abroad would reach MAD 100 billion ($9 billion) by the end of 2022.
