Morocco’s Central Bank Partners with World Bank to Promote Financial Inclusion in Rural Areas

Bank Al Maghrib, Morocco’s central Bank has teamed up with the World Bank to promote the use of digital money transfer services for the benefit of the inhabitants in rural zones.
The two financial institutions have launched the «Douar Tour» initiative which seeks to inform rural populations about the various financial services available for money transfers and their pricing, said a press release issued by Morocco’s central bank.
To ensure success to the initiative, didactic tools have been provided to local financial ecosystem and civil society stakeholders to reach the targeted populations.
The new “Douar Tour” concept has been tested lately during two initial pilot operations conducted at the weekly souks (farmer markets) of Oued Zem and Lagfaf, two localities in the province of Khouribga.
For this purpose, a mobile agency was made available to beneficiaries allowing them to put into practice the knowledge acquired. The new concept will be deployed in 4 regions, namely: Beni-Mellal Khenifra, Souss-Massa, Fez-Meknes, and the Oriental Region.
According to some studies, large segments of the population in Morocco still have a low access to financial services. A survey carried out in 2021 showed that only 44 percent of adults (aged 15+) have an account in financial institutions. Women, young adults have even lower shares.
To address the situation, Morocco’s financial authorities are making efforts to provide financial services tailored to regional financing needs, while taking into account that intraregional discrepancies in access to bank branches increase as the beneficiaries move away from the region’s main city.