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Morocco’s Government Delays Currency Liberalization | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Undated file photo showing the front entrance of the Moroccan central bank, the Bank Al-Maghreb. (Reuters)


Casablanca- The Moroccan government has postponed the announcement of the first phase of liberalizing the dirham currency although it was on the agenda of the cabinet session on Thursday.

Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha El Khalfi said the postponement came following a request made by the finance minister who had been scheduled to brief the cabinet on the subject.

El Khalfi did not give any reason for the delay but stressed that the liberalization of the dirham was not facing any obstacles.

The process of liberalization had started through coordination between the Central Bank and the previous government led by Abdelilah Benkirane, who had sought to implement it late 2016.

But the delay in the formation of the current cabinet for more than eight months after the parliamentary elections held in October, pushed the Central Bank to postpone the first stage of the liberalization of the currency to the second half of this year.

The dirham is fixed via a peg that is 60 percent weighted to the euro and 40 percent to the dollar. The first stage will ease that peg to allow the currency to trade in a narrow range, which will expand gradually over the course of up to 15 years.