Rabat – Morocco’s Central Bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), has reported that the Moroccan dirham rose by 1.9 percent against the dollar, and fell by 0.44 percent against the euro between March and April of this year.
According to BAM’sC monthly bulletin on the economic, monetary, and financial situation for the month of May, no meeting has been scheduled since December 2021 for BAM’s foreign currency bidding operations with other banks.
Regarding the market between banks, BAM’s bulletin stated that the volume of foreign exchange against the Moroccan dirham amounted to MAD 69.6 billion ($6.8 billion) last March, with an increase of MAD 22.5 billion ($2.2 billion) from year to year.
Regarding bank transactions with customers, their volume amounted to MAD 33.5 billion ($3.3 billion) for cash purchases and MAD 22.9 billion ($2.2 billion) for term purchases, compared to MAD 34.2 billion ($3.3 billion) and MAD 28.4 billion ($2.8 billion), respectively, a year ago.
As for the sales, they amounted to MAD 37.5 billion ($3.7 billion) for cash operations and MAD 4.1 billion ($406 billion) for term operations, after MAD 40.1 billion ($3.9 billion) and MAD 9.4 billion ($930 billion), respectively.
In March, BAM announced raising interest rates for the third time within less than two years.
Raising interest rates is the standard policy used by central banks to manage inflation. Theoretically, raising loans slows down cash flow in the market, as well as demand, which lowers commodity prices.
At the end of 2022, inflation in Morocco surged to 6.6%, more than three times the BAM’s recommended 2% average.
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