A meeting with the French Treasury is scheduled for July to finalize an agreement on the implementation of the European CRD VI directive, which prohibits foreign banks not established in the European Union (EU) from directly offering home-country banking services to clients residing in EU countries, announced Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), on Tuesday in Rabat during a press briefing following BAM's second quarterly board meeting of 2025. Once validated by the European Commission, this agreement would open the door to discussions with other affected EU countries, particularly Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, to allow Moroccan banks to continue serving Moroccans living abroad and their families in Morocco, Jouahri said. He also recalled that a task force has been set up, bringing together the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Living Abroad, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, BAM, and Moroccan banks, to defend Morocco's national interests. This team has intensified discussions with the European Commission, particularly with the department overseeing the matter, and engaged in detailed talks with the French Treasury, helping to clarify the strategic importance of this activity for Morocco, especially in terms of its balance of payments, he added. In this context, Jouahri noted that forecasts for remittances from Moroccans Residing Abroad (MRE) point to a slight decline in 2025, followed by a recovery in 2026. By then, the entire process, including clarifications and adjustments related to this banking activity, is expected to be finalized. Regarding monetary policy, Jouahri said that in light of inflation trends aligning with medium-term price stability goals, strong growth in the non-agricultural sectors, and anchored expectations, the board decided, given significant uncertainty in the outlook, to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 2.25%. The council will continue to closely monitor the transmission of recent rate cuts, particularly their impact on financing conditions for very small, small, and medium-sized enterprises (TPMEs), and will base future decisions on the latest available data.
