Morocco to issue dollar-denominated bond in 2023- Central Bank

Morocco would issue a dollar-denominated bond in 2023, the first since 2020, the central bank said.

Morocco has yet to recover its investment grade although its most recent foreign debt issue was successful.

Domestically, central bank official Youness Issami said the central bank has proceeded to purchases of treasury bonds for the first time

The Bank set the ceiling of 25 billion dirhams with 16 billion dirhams already used in two purchasing operations on Jan 9 and 16.

Issami said the treasury bond buyback aimed at injecting liquidity due to a lack of demand by investors with no visibility over the benchmark interest rate.

Morocco’s central bank has ended its quantitative easy policy raising the key interest rate to 2.5% in December amid high inflation.

Morocco’s inflation stood at 6.6% in 2022 with prospects to drop in 2023 as commodities prices are expected to drop, the high commission for planning said.