Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), released its monthly monetary statistics bulletin for December 2024 on Thursday. The bulletin shows an increase in the overall money supply and a mixed performance in bank lending.
Morocco’s total money supply, measured by the M3 aggregate, reached MAD 1,889.7 billion, which translates to an annual growth of 7.9%, up from 6.8% in November. The increase was driven by an acceleration in net claims on the central government, which grew 8.4%, compared to 5.8% the previous month.
Meanwhile, the expansion of bank credit to the non-financial sector remained nearly unchanged at 2.6%, while official reserve assets showed a slight increase of 4.4%.
Bank lending to the non-financial sector maintained a steady 2.6% growth. However, within this category, private non-financial corporations experienced a slowdown in credit growth to 0.7%, down from 1.1%. In contrast, public non-financial corporations saw a significant increase, with credit growth accelerating from 3.2% to 7.3%. Loans to households remained nearly stable at 1.7% growth.
In terms of loan types, cash flow loans increased slightly, with an overall growth rate rising from 0.4% to 0.7%. This was largely due to a sharp rise in loans to public non-financial corporations, which surged 30.9%, up from 21.9% in November, while loans to private businesses saw a deeper decline, falling 3.9% after a 2.8% drop the previous month.
Equipment loans, which finance business investments, also grew at a faster rate, increasing from 8.1% to 9%, with credit to private firms reaching 10.7% from 8.6%. Meanwhile, lending for real estate and consumer credit remained almost unchanged, with growth rates of 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively.
Non-performing loans, i.e., those not being repaid on time, saw an annual increase of 2.5%, slowing from 3.8% in November. Consequently, the ratio of non-performing loans to total credit improved slightly, declining to 8.3% from 8.7%.
The latest figures highlight stable trends in banking activity as well as continued growth in Morocco’s monetary indicators, with notable differences between private and public sector borrowing.