Moroccans among the people who use the most “cash” in the world and tests for the adoption of the electronic dirham

Recent reports have revealed interesting information regarding the use of cash in several countries, including Morocco, where Moroccans are among the people who use cash the most globally.

This observation was confirmed by Abdellatif Jouahri, the governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, who affirmed that the use of cash is very widespread in our country, adding that we are one of the countries where “cash” is most used in the world. global level.

The governor of Bank Al-Maghrib stressed that the Eid period saw a strong demand for liquidity, which pushed banking institutions to mobilize all their efforts to meet the needs of Moroccans.

The same speaker explained that cash transactions in Morocco exceeded 430 billion dirhams, representing around 30% of gross domestic product, a rate among the highest in the world.

To reduce the use of “cash”, Morocco has undertaken to test the electronic dirham. Jouahri affirmed that Morocco is exploring, in collaboration with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the adoption of the “electronic dirham” in transactions.

Jouahri added: “We first studied the objective of adopting electronic money, taking into account international experiences. We carried out an internal test to experiment with the use of the electronic dirham on a World Bank platform in Washington. We also tested the retail e-money payment method, in addition to evaluating the operational process of the corresponding transaction system.”

Jouahri stressed that the most difficult challenges remain ahead, including legal and regulatory issues as well as the repercussions on the core missions of the central bank and on monetary policy in the event of the official adoption of the electronic dirham.