Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 7:10 PM
Rabat – The liquidity deficit of banks widened to 80.9 billion dirhams (MMDH) on average during the year 2022, once morest 70.8 billion dirhams in 2021, according to the recent report of Bank Al-Maghrib ( BAM) on monetary policy.
This worsening is mainly linked to the increase in fiduciary circulation, explains the Central Bank in this report published at the end of the first BAM Board meeting for the year 2023.
In the fourth quarter of 2022, banks’ liquidity needs stood at 87.8 billion dirhams on a weekly average, once morest 91.7 billion dirhams a quarter earlier, the same source said.
Under these conditions, the Bank reduced the amount of its injections to 102.5 billion dirhams, including 50.5 billion dirhams in the form of 7-day advances, 26.8 billion dirhams through repurchase agreements, 25.1 billion dirhams under guaranteed loan operations granted under very small, small and medium-sized enterprises (TPME) financing support programs and 40 million dirhams (MDH) in the form of a foreign exchange swap, specifies BAM.
The average residual duration of the Bank’s interventions fell from 44.7 days to 45.1 days and the interbank rate remained aligned with the key rate at 2.06% on average, a level incorporating the decision of the Bank’s Board to raise the key interest rate by 50 basis points in December.
In the Treasury bill market, rates continued to rise in the fourth quarter on both the primary and secondary markets. During the months of January and February, the upward trend in yields continued on both markets, particularly for medium and long maturities.
In the same vein, on the private debt market, the rates matching the issues of certificates of deposit rose in the fourth quarter.
As for deposit rates, they experienced a quarterly increase of 17 basis points (bps) to 2.24% on average for 6-month deposits and 18 bps to 2.57% for one-year ones. Under these conditions, the cost of bank funding recorded a slight increase compared to the third quarter.
The latest available data for January indicate monthly increases in deposit rates of 4 basis points to 2.28% for 6-month deposits and 20 points to 2.87% for one-year ones.
With regard to lending rates, the results of Bank Al-Maghrib’s survey of banks relating to the fourth quarter of 2022 indicate a quarterly increase of 26 basis points in the overall average rate to 4.5%. By institutional sector, rates on business loans rose 26 points to 4.30%, reflecting increases of 26 basis points in those on cash facilities and 24 points in those on equipment loans.
The rates applied to loans to individuals, for their part, increased by 39 points, with an increase of 13 points for housing loans and virtual stability for consumer loans.
