Rise in the key rate: savings in the sights

The Wali of Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), Abdellatif Jouahri, stressed on Tuesday in Rabat that the increase in the key rate acts in favor of savings, in the presence of negative real interest rates under the effect of inflationary pressures.

“The increase in rates that we operate will have to push customers to demand better remuneration at the level of the banking system. This does not mean that she will be able to obtain positive remuneration all at once, but the differential on the negative level will decrease.“said Jouahri during the press briefing at the end of the 4th and last quarterly meeting of 2022 of BAM.

In this sense, he highlighted the increase in fiduciary circulation, which increased by 20% during the health crisis, before returning to its normal pace. Jouahri also indicated that Moroccan banks did not experience massive withdrawals in deposits during the crisis period, explaining this observation by the presence of the “trust” element.

The BAM Board decided to raise the key rate by 50 basis points (bps) to 2.50% at the end of its 4th and last quarterly meeting, for the year 2022.

During this meeting, the Council analyzed the recent evolution of the international economic situation and noted that it remains marked by the stalemate of the conflict in Ukraine, geopolitical and economic fragmentation and the consequences of the pandemic. He also noted that despite signs of easing inflation in some countries, overall inflation remains very high, prompting central banks to continue the largely synchronized tightening of their monetary policies.