TPE See Payment Delays Fall Under Morocco’s Law 69.21

Casablanca — Payment delays in Morocco eased in 2024, with very small businesses, Très Petites Entreprises (TPE), recording the clearest improvement after the entry into force of Law No. 69.21 on payment deadlines, according to Inforisk’s 2026 study.

The study, based on a sample of 25,392 companies, found that payment delays for very small enterprises fell from 199 days in 2023 to 167 days in 2024. That is a drop of 32 days. Inforisk said TPEs were the “big winners” of the year.

The improvement comes after years of late payments weighing heavily on smaller businesses, often putting pressure on cash flow and making it harder for them to pay suppliers on time. Previous reports on the issue had pointed to persistent late-payment practices in the private sector, with TPEs among the companies most exposed to collection difficulties.

Law No. 69.21 was published in the Official Bulletin in June 2023 and came into force progressively. It first applied to companies with turnover above MAD 50 million from July 2023, then to companies with turnover between MAD 10 million and MAD 50 million from January 2024. Companies with turnover between MAD 2 million and MAD 10 million were brought into the system from January 2025.

Under the law, payment deadlines are set at 60 days when no deadline is agreed between parties, and can go up to 120 days when a deadline is agreed in writing. Some sectoral cases may be subject to longer deadlines under specific rules.

Inforisk said that in 2023, the law mainly covered large companies, and the main beneficiaries were small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those with turnover between MAD 100 million and MAD 175 million.

In 2024, companies with turnover above MAD 10 million entered the scope of the law. By diffusion effect, TPEs benefited from the effort made by SMEs to comply with the new framework, the study said.

At the same time, TPEs reduced their supplier payment delays by 14 days, from 107 days to 94 days.

Across all companies, payment delays in Morocco fell from 172 days in 2023 to 150 days in 2024, a reduction of 22 days.

SMEs also saw a slight improvement in client payment delays, down six days from 94 to 88 days between 2023 and 2024. Their supplier payment delays remained stable.

Large companies saw their client payment delays rise slightly by seven days, though they remained below 80 days. Their supplier payment delays were unchanged at 75 days in both 2023 and 2024.

The Inforisk sample was made up mostly of TPEs, which represented 85% of the companies studied. SMEs accounted for 13%, while large companies made up 2%.

Morocco World News is also on X — check out our latest posts now! Get MWN on iOS and Android for instant access to breaking news.