Growing by 16% and 170% respectively, remittances from Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) and tourist receipts allow the kingdom to boost its foreign currency reserves in a difficult economic context.
At a time when the trade balance deficit continues to widen, going from 199.2 billion dirhams in 2021 to 308.8 billion dirhams (28 billion euros) in 2022, Morocco can count on transfers of Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) and the return to grace of tourism. Indeed, 2022 was the year of all records with 110.7 billion dirhams transferred by the Moroccan diaspora, and 93.6 billion dirhams in travel receipts.
Thus, the “unfavorable” evolution of the trade balance was mitigated “thanks to the consolidation of transfers from MREs and the exceptional performance of travel receipts”, underlines Bank Al Maghrib in its annual report on financial stability. , released in August. A performance that brings official reserve assets to 337.6 billion dirhams, the equivalent of 5 months and 13 days of imports of goods and services.
An uptrend confirmed in 2023
In detail, transfers of funds from Moroccans living abroad in 2022 will mainly come from France, with 35.6 billion dirhams (32.2% of the shares), Spain, with 14.8 billion dirhams (13.4 %) and Italy with 12.7 billion dirhams (11.5%). Saudi Arabia (8.4 billion dirhams, 7.6%) and the United States (6.5 billion dirhams, 6%) complete the top 5.
A recent report by the Moroccan Foreign Exchange Office, published in mid-August, notes an increase in transfers from the Moroccan diaspora from the main countries, in particular France (+17.9%), Spain (+10.9% ), and Italy (+26.2%). However, the best performance was reported in Canada with an annual growth of +28% over the last five years.
According to data from the Foreign Exchange Office, remittances from Moroccans abroad are growing overall by around 16%. The upward trend of this borderless financial windfall was also confirmed in the first half of 2023, with the transfer of 55.3 billion dirhams, up 13.9% compared to the same period in 2022.
+170.8% in tourist receipts
Slowed down since the health crisis, the tourism sector is picking up again with an “exceptional” increase in revenue, estimated at 170.8%. Limited to 34.6 billion dirhams in 2021, travel receipts reached 93.6 billion dirhams in 2022, exceeding the pre-pandemic level (78.7 billion dirhams in 2019).
A pillar of the Moroccan economy, with a contribution of 7% to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the kingdom, tourism is at the heart of a new strategic roadmap of 6.1 billion dirhams over four years. Objective: attract 17.5 million tourists per year, and generate 120 billion dirhams in revenue by 2026.
Faced with domestic (drought) and international (surge commodity prices) shocks, real gross domestic product (GDP) growth fell from 7.9% to around 1.2% between 2021 and 2022, according to World Bank data. The dynamism of remittances from MREs and tourist receipts can now relieve public finances under pressure.
