Banque Centrale Populaire , one of Morocco’s three biggest banks, may raise short-term debt on the international market before the end of the year, its chief executive told Reuters on Wednesday.
“We are more interested in short-term bonds (than medium-term), maybe by the end of the year. But the amount has not been decided yet,” Mohamed Benchaaboun said on the sidelines of a financial industry event in the capital Rabat.
“We have no immediate financing need and we are not interested in the formula of the medium-term announced by other Moroccan banks” he said.
Moroccan lenders are turning to international debt due to a shortage of liquidity in the domestic market.
Foreign debt sales would also help the government boost foreign reserves, which barely cover four months of imports. Morocco’s finances have been strained by a costlier energy bill and economic weakness in its main European trading partners.
Attjariwafa Bank and BMCE Bank, the two biggest Moroccan banks, both plan to raise $500 million through foreign bond issues.
Attijariwafa said the timing was still to be decided. BMCE Bank wanted to go ahead with its fundraising in the last two weeks of June but the issue was delayed.
“We have sent our file to the Luxembourg stock exchange, where it will be listed, and our advisers will decide on the timing,” a source at BMCE said.
BMCE has hired Barclays, Citibank and BNP Paribas as advisers for its bond sale. (Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; editing by Tom Pfeiffer)
