Morocco’s financial sector, which has been significantly reformed since the early 1990s, has remained solid in the midst of the international financial crisis thanks to its limited integration into the international financial system and to progress achieved in terms of compliance with prudential rules. After the implementation in 2007 of the Basel II capital accord in its standard approach, the banking sector adopted in 2010 the advanced approaches of the framework, in particular in respect of risk financing by own funds. Its solvency thus seems solid by international standards.
Nonetheless, given the investment momentum the country has experienced since 2007, and given the surge in calls for funds and the slowdown in client deposits, the financial sector is finding it hard to meet the economy’s financial needs with fund inflows. Since 2007 the banking sector has had recurrent deficits, leading the BAM to intervene in the market regularly and significantly to meet the banks’ liquidity needs. To cover the cash flow deficit, which amounted in December 2011 alone to nearly MAD 38 billion (versus 35.1 billion a month earlier), the BAM’s intervention was mainly through seven-day advances for MAD 24 billion and through three-month repurchase operations for MAD 15 billion.
Otherwise, the capital market remains restricted and does not contribute sufficiently to financing the economy. The stock market, in particular, is hardly playing its role of financing the productive sphere and promising sectors. In general in 2011 the indices, capitalisation and volume of trade of the Casablanca stock market performed unevenly. The main stock-market index, Moroccan All Shares Index, fell by 12.9% in 2011 year on year. Stock market capitalisation grew by 1.1% from 2010 to MAD 516.2 billion.
