Tourist Endowment: Morocco’s Customs Adjusts its Control System

Rabat – Following Morocco’s Exchange Office’s decision to raise the tourist endowment for personal travel to MAD 100,000 ($10,780), the country’s Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxes (ADII) published yesterday a set of new procedures to follow regarding foreign currency endowments.

Following its report on the new instructions of the currency transactions, the exchange office arranged the various foreign exchange allocations policies under the “personal travel grant” section.

In a statement, ADII stressed, “Personal travel refers to trips abroad made from Morocco, per individual [Moroccan residing in Morocco or Moroccan residing abroad], directly, or through travel agencies approved by the Ministry of Tourism.”

As previously announced by the exchange office, tourist endowment can be used on travels abroad, whether for tourism, religious purposes such as Umrah and Hajj, or for medical reasons.

The tourist endowment for personal travel is now set at MAD 100,000 ($10,780), with an additional endowment of 30% of the income tax, all capped at MAD 300,000 ($32,342) per person annually.

For retired workers, endowment can be granted on the basis of a document that justifies the income tax payment of the year of retirement.

Initially, the tourist endowment was set at MAD 45,000 ($4,851) per year.

“Banks can provide the endowment in the form of foreign banknotes, traveller’s cheques, bank cheques, transfers or on an international payment card,” the statement noted, adding that the endowment can also be delivered in foreign currency account or convertible MAD account under the name of the beneficiaries.

The Customs services indicated that the MAD 100,000 allocation may be combined with other allocations granted within the framework of an authorization of the Exchange Office.

Last week, the exchange office loosened restrictions on Moroccan investments abroad by raising the annual threshold from MAD 50 million ($ 5.3 million) to MAD 200 million ($ 21.5 million).