The outstanding amount of bank credit in Morocco reached 1,122.5 billion Moroccan dirhams (MMDH) during the first eleven months of 2024, marking a year-on-year increase of 4.1%, according to Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM).
This amount is distributed among non-financial agents with 947 MMDH and financial agents with 175.5 MMDH, as detailed by BAM in its recent “Credit-Deposit Banking Dashboard.”
The credit to private non-financial companies increased by 1.8% annually, which includes a rise of 7.9% in equipment loans, 6.4% in real estate development loans, and a 1.3% decrease in cash facilities.
According to the third quarter (Q3) 2024 survey on credit granting conditions, the criteria remained unchanged for cash and equipment loans but were relaxed for real estate development loans. These observations apply to loans to both very small, small, and medium-sized enterprises (VSMEs) and large companies (LCs).
Regarding demand, banks reported an increase across all credit purposes and for all company sizes, both LCs and VSMEs.
BAM’s business climate survey for Q3-2024 indicates that access to bank financing was considered “normal” by industrialists. Moreover, 83% of industrial companies reported that the cost of credit was stagnant.
In Q3-2024, interest rates on new loans decreased to 5.33%. They were set at 5.14% for LCs and 5.74% for VSMEs. For credits granted to households, there was an annual increase of 0.8%, mainly driven by a 1.7% rise in mortgage loans and a 1.5% increase in consumer loans.
Islamic finance for housing, particularly through real estate Murabaha, continued to grow, reaching 24.5 MMDH from 21.4 MMDH the previous year.
In Q3-2024, banks reported unchanged credit granting criteria for both mortgage and consumer loans.
Regarding demand, there was an increase for both types of loans.
Finally, the rates applied to new loans in Q3-2024 were almost stagnant at 5.92% overall, covering a decrease by 3 basis points (bps) to 4.76% for mortgage loans and an increase of 3 bps to 7.06% for consumer loans.
