The banking liquidity deficit, the amount of funds banks need to borrow from the interbank market or from the central bank to meet the credit demands of their customers, rose to more than 130 billion MAD during the first eight months of 2024, according to the “Weekly Hebdo Taux – Fixed Income” report of Attijari Global Research (AGR) center covering the period from September 27 to October 3.
“The banking liquidity deficit widened to over 44 billion MAD year-on-year, reaching 133.5 billion MAD by the end of August 2024, marking a new historic high,” the center stated.
The report added that the decision of Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al Maghreb (BAM), to maintain the status quo during its third monetary policy committee meeting of 2024, although out of sync with market consensus, did not lead to significant pressures in the money market.”
The Moroccan Overnight Index Average (MONIA) rates, a reference rate calculated based on overnight repurchase agreements secured by Treasury bonds, slightly increased to over 2.73% this week, compared to 2.7% the previous week.
However, interbank rates remain aligned with the benchmark rate at 2.75%.
BAM reduced its overall adjustments to the money market to 152.2 billion MAD from 154.3 billion MAD last week.
BAM injected more than 63 billion MAD into the banking system through its 7-day advances and more than 88 billion MAD through its longer-term operations, namely guaranteed loans and repurchase agreements.