<\/p>\n
The IMF Working Paper examined how policy decisions by Bank Al-Maghrib affected output, inflation, interest rates, credit, exchange rates, asset prices and expectations between late 2006 and September 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A one-percentage-point increase in the policy rate reduced economic output by about 0.3%, with the effect peaking after seven quarters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Inflation declined by approximately 0.12%, with the greatest effect emerging after eight quarters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Before 2018, the same interest-rate increase reduced output by about 0.1% and inflation by 0.05%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, Morocco\u2019s response remained slower and weaker than in other emerging markets, where output typically declines by between 0.3% and 0.8% within two to six quarters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Report attributed stronger transmission to greater exchange-rate flexibility, improved central-bank communication and the legal designation of price stability as Bank Al-Maghrib\u2019s primary objective.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Morocco widened the dirham\u2019s fluctuation band from 0.3% to 2.5% in 2018 and to 5% in 2020.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The interest-rate channel remained the strongest part of the transmission system. Policy-rate changes moved through short-term government securities and bank lending rates, with pass-through ranging from 50% to 120% within one or two quarters.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Deposit rates responded less fully, with about 60% of policy changes transmitted during the same period. The effect on credit differed substantially across sectors. Short-term lending and credit to services declined after rate increases, while long-term and agricultural credit showed limited responses.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bank loans account for more than 80% of financial claims on the Moroccan economy, making bank lending more important than capital markets in transmitting monetary policy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The exchange-rate channel has also strengthened since 2018, with monetary tightening leading to a temporary appreciation of the nominal effective exchange rate and the dirham against the euro.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, stock-market prices showed no significant response, while inflation expectations adjusted only gradually.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The IMF researchers called for deeper capital and foreign-exchange markets, stronger communication and improved transmission to deposits and longer-term lending.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–IMF\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40421,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[44],"class_list":["post-49050","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-finance","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Morocco\u2019s monetary policy has become more effective since reforms began in 2018, although interest-rate changes continue to influence economic activity and inflation slowly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) research finds.","published_date":"","news_description":"Morocco\u2019s monetary policy has become more effective since reforms began in 2018, although interest-rate changes continue to influence economic activity and inflation slowly, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) research finds.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49052,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/49050\/revisions\/49052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=49050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}