Adjustment of Dirham’s Basket Weighting Conducive to Morocco’s Foreign Trade Development

The revision of the dirhams basket weighting is a "necessary adjustment" in tandem with the development of Morocco’s foreign trade, Economy and Finance Minister Mohammed Boussaid said.

This adjustment was taken to add more flexibility to the exchange regime, Boussaid told MAP after the Central bank doubled the U.S. dollar weighting to 40% while it cut by a quarter the weighting of the euro to 60%. 

In 2002, 80% of Morocco’s foreign trade was in Euros and 20% was in US dollars, said the Minister, noting that today 55% is in Euros and 42% in dollars with the remaining transactions in other currencies.

This currency weighting adjustment was taken in order to boost Morocco’s resilience to external shocks notably those affecting public debt, he said.

Improving the flexibility of the exchange regime in Morocco is a key issue for the government and the Central bank, Boussaid added.

MAP 13 April 2015