Official Resources

⇒ http://www.covidmaroc.ma/

COVID-19 Restrictions

Movement Restrictions

• Is there a curfew in place?  Yes.  There is a nationwide curfew in place between the hours of 11:00 PM and 4:30 AM.  Effective June 7, individuals who are vaccinated and have a vaccine digital passport issued by the Moroccan Government (www.liqahcorona.ma) can move freely after 11:00 PM.  Such individuals will not be subject to travel restrictions.  Those not vaccinated and enrolled in the government’s digital vaccination passport program must still have written permission from the Moroccan authorities for movements during curfew hours and to travel between cities/regions.
• Are there restrictions on intercity or interstate travel? Yes 
• Are there restrictions on intercity or interstate travel? Yes

Transportation Options

• Are commercial flights operating? Some limited services.
• Is public transportation operating? Yes.  Masks are required on all public transportation and in public spaces, including airports and train stations.

Fines for Non-Compliance

• You may be fined for non-compliance with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Economic Measures

Key Policy Responses as of June 3, 2021

FISCAL

• The authorities have created a special fund dedicated to the management of the pandemic, of about 3 percent of GDP financed by the government and by voluntary contributions from public and private entities which will be tax deductible. This fund covers the costs of upgrading medical facilities and support businesses and households impacted by the pandemic. Businesses with less than 500 employees made temporarily idle and experiencing a reduction in turnover of more than 50 percent were authorized to defer social contribution payments until June 30. Their employees who become temporarily unemployed and are registered with the pension fund received 2,000 dirhams a month and were allowed put off debt payments until June 30. In April, 2020 almost 1 million workers from 134,000 companies were eligible to these transfers. Companies and households can also defer income tax payment until September 30, 2020. In addition, the government has decided to accelerate payment to its suppliers to support businesses. The government has extended social transfers to employees temporarily unemployed and further deferred social contribution payments for some sectors (including tourism) until end-March 2021.

  The government also took measures to support households working in the informal sector. Households’ benefiting from the non-contributory health insurance (RAMED) received a monthly mobile payment of DRH 800-1200 (USD 80-120) from April, depending on households’ composition. Other households which do not benefit from RAMED can claim cash support by registering online. In April, 85 percent of eligible households in the informal sectoral were covered. The government postponed the deadline for personal income tax filing from end-April to end-June 2020 and provided a tax exemption for additional compensation paid by firms to employees in the formal sector up to a limit of 50 percent of the average monthly net salary. A decree-law adopted on April 6, 2020 authorizes the government to increase external borrowing beyond the ceiling approved in the 2020 Budget Act.

  On August 6,2020 the authorities announced a plan to sustain the economic recovery and employment levels. The plan envisages the mobilization of DRH 120 billion, mainly in the form of credit guarantees to firms and funding for a newly -created “Fund for Strategic Investment”, which will finance investment projects (including PPPs) and sustain the capital of firms that needs equity injections to develop their business.

MONETARY AND MACRO-FINANCIAL

• The central bank reduced the policy rate by 75 bps to 1.5 percent since March 2020. To support companies, loan payments are suspended for small and medium-sized businesses and self-employed people until June 30. To reduce volatility, the Capital Market Authority decided to revise downwards the maximum variation thresholds applicable to financial instruments listed in Casablanca Stock Exchange.

  Given growing demand for liquidity support in the banking system (both in DRH and in EUR/USD), Bank al-Maghrib decided on a three-pronged approach to increase liquidity provision to the banking sector: (i) expand the range of collateral accepted for repos and credit guarantees to include public and private debt instruments (including mortgages), (ii) increase and lengthen central bank refinancing operations to support banking credit to (V)SMEs, and (iii) provide FX swaps to domestic banks. In addition, Bank al-Maghrib decided to bring reserve requirements to zero (from 2 percent) to increase liquidity provision, and to ease refinancing of banks’ contribution to microcredit institutions and credit unions.

  On March 29, 2020 the central bank decided the following prudential and regulatory measures to support the banking sector: (i) Banks are authorized to go below the 100 percent liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) until end-June 2019; (ii) Provisioning requirements are suspended for loans’ benefiting from a temporary payment moratorium until end-June 2019; (iii) The capital conservation buffer (CCB) is reduced by 50 bps for one year. In addition, the central bank has call on banks to suspend dividend payments for FY2019. In February 2021, the central bank extended the reduction in the capital conservation buffer until June 2022.

  On April 24, 2020 the Moroccan insurance supervisor relaxed some provisioning requirements to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the insurance sector.

  In addition, Morocco has established a funding for lending facility (Damane Oxygene) which provides loans to (V)SMEs at subsidized interest rates with a guarantee of 95 percent from the Central Guarantee Fund. On May 15, this program was extended to end-2020, and collateral requirements were removed to improve access for (V)SMEs.Some 50,000 companies have benefitted from this facility, for a total outstanding amount of 1.6 percent of GDP.

  In addition, the government will provide interest-free loan of up to dirham 15,000 to self-employed, with a repayment period of three years and a grace period of one year. The government also cancelled capitalized interests on mortgages (up to DRH 3000 per month) and consumer loans (up to DRH 1500 per month) accrued from March to June 2020 for all households experiencing income losses.

  On May 21, 2020 the government announced a post crisis facility (Damane Relance) to support businesses that will provide financing to cover working capital needs at subsidized interest rate (with a 4 percent maximum interest rate, equivalent to the current policy rate + 200 basis points). A sovereign guarantee of 95 percent will be provided to SMEs, for an equivalent of up to ten percent of annual turnover. Larger firms will benefit from a sovereign guarantee of 80 to 90 percent of the outstanding loan, which will be capped at one month of turnover for most sectors. Firms will have 7 years to repay with a 2-year grace period. In addition, the government will guarantee state-owned enterprises’ loan that will be provided by banks exclusively to repay their suppliers. At end-February 2021, banks provided loans worth about 3.3 percent of GDP to about 25,000 firms under this facility. The government launched three new facilities to provide financing to, very small firms, real estate firms (Damane Relance Promotion Immobilière) and to firms operating in the tourism sector which provided with loans worth about 0.1 percent of GDP. On March 30, 2021 the government extended the Damane Relance facility until end-June 2021.

EXCHANGE RATE AND BALANCE OF PAYMENTS

• As part of a gradual and orderly transition to a more flexible exchange rate regime, the authorities broadened the dirham’s fluctuation band to +/- 5 percent (from +/- 2.5 percent) on March 6, 2020.

  On April 7, 2020 the Moroccan authorities purchased all available resources (about US$ 3 billion or 240 percent of quota and about 3 percent of GDP) under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement. This purchase will help the authorities limit the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and allow Morocco to maintain an adequate level of official reserves to mitigate pressures on the balance of payments. In January, 2021 the Moroccan made an early repayment of about SDR651 million or USD936 million and about 0.8 percent of GDP.

Civic Freedom Tracker