Equipment Loans, Growth Driver

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Bank credit in Morocco accelerated its growth in 2025, ending the year with a sustained annual variation of 8%, to reach an outstanding amount of 1.258 trillion dirhams. Over one year, more than 93 billion dirhams were injected into the economy by the various credit institutions.

If we exclude credits granted to other financial companies, whose outstanding amount increased by 23% to reach 255 billion dirhams, the provision of bank credit to the real economy (public and private non-financial companies as well as households) shows growth of 4.7% instead of 2.7% in 2024, culminating at over 1 trillion dirhams.

Bank credit to the non-financial sector thus performs better than the forecasts established by the central bank, which projected growth of 4.1% in 2025.

This acceleration in the pace of credit granting occurs in a context marked by a pause in the monetary easing policy initiated by the central bank in June 2024.

Thus, after a third consecutive cut of 25 basis points in the key rate in March 2025, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) decided three times (in June, September, and December 2025) to keep its key rate unchanged at 2.25%.

The institution notably judged that the transmission of previous key rate cuts to the lending rates applied to bank credits remains partial and incomplete.

Financing of Major Projects

The growth of loans to the economy reflects the acceleration in the progression of credit to the public sector to 10.9% and, to a lesser extent, the growth of credit to the private sector of 3.9%.

According to the latest monetary statistics from Bank Al-Maghrib, loans to local authorities marked a sharp increase of 56.8% compared to 0.6% a year earlier, reaching 41.6 billion dirhams.

An outstanding amount driven mainly by credits allocated to major infrastructure projects, primarily seawater desalination projects and the extension of the high-speed train line. Conversely, credits to public enterprises are down by 3.7%, settling at an outstanding amount of 80.3 billion dirhams.

As for loans to the private sector, lending to companies, on one hand, slightly accelerated, recording an increase of 3% in 2025, after 2.3% in 2024, bringing the outstanding amount to 466.6 billion dirhams.

On the other hand, the growth rate of credit to households (mortgage loans, consumer loans, etc.) remains stable at 3.6% in 2025, with an outstanding amount of 395.6 billion dirhams as of December 31.

A more detailed analysis of Bank Al-Maghrib’s data, however, shows disparities according to the economic purpose of the credit. Equipment loans, which finance the investment efforts of economic actors and consequently indicate the dynamics of the national economy, are on a decidedly upward trend, with double-digit growth in outstanding amounts.

As of the end of December 2025, the outstanding amount of these credits shows a remarkable increase of 25.4% compared to the same period last year, settling at over 304 billion dirhams. Short-term credits and cash facilities, however, follow the opposite trajectory: their outstanding amount ends the year 2025 with a decrease of 1.5%, settling at 254 billion dirhams.

Households: Consumer Credit Holds Steady

Apart from this tightening on cash credits, all other credit categories are on the rise. This is particularly the case for mortgage loans, whose total outstanding amount reaches 321.4 billion dirhams, an increase of 3.4%.

Of this amount, homebuyer loans represent 256 billion dirhams (+3.3%), including 29.7 billion dirhams in participatory financing (Islamic mortgage Murabaha), a segment that continues to record dynamic growth in its outstanding amounts (+19.3%).

Finally, bank credits to real estate developers remain well-oriented, with an outstanding amount nearing the 70 billion dirham mark (+5.3%). Consumer credits granted by banks similarly maintain a good trend, with a 5% increase in production in 2025, reaching an outstanding amount of 61 billion dirhams.

It should be noted that the growth in credit is accompanied by a parallel improvement in risk. Banks’ non-performing loans increased by only 3.1% in 2025, settling at over 100 billion dirhams. The sector’s default rate thus stands at 8%, or 0.3 points better than in 2024.

This good overall credit momentum should be maintained in the medium term, or even accelerate. According to the latest projections from the central bank, the pace of growth of bank credit to the non-financial sector should experience an acceleration to 5% in 2026.

A growth rate that could be revised upwards in the event of a new cut in the key rate. This would offer more favorable financing conditions for businesses and households.

Very Small Enterprises (TPE): A Charter and a Scoring System to Boost Financing

On December 4, 2025, a national institutional framework aimed at improving access to financing for very small enterprises was officially established.

Signed by nine public and private institutions, including the Ministries of Finance and Investment, Bank Al-Maghrib, Tamwilcom, the Morocco SME agency, and the Professional Association of Banks of Morocco, this charter aims to remove structural obstacles to the development of TPEs.

One of the set objectives is to at least double the performance of the “Intelaka” program launched in 2020, which mobilized 9 billion dirhams for the benefit of 38,000 enterprises.

As part of this charter, new concrete measures will be implemented around three areas, namely financing, risk rating, and support for TPEs.

Thus, banks, microfinance institutions, and Tamwilcom will offer enhanced credit and guarantee offers tailored to the needs of this segment, while Bank Al-Maghrib already established, as of March 2025, a dedicated refinancing mechanism at a preferential rate.

Another novelty, the concerned institutions will upgrade their internal rating systems to better integrate the specificities of TPEs, in anticipation of the deployment of the national scoring system scheduled for early 2026.

This system is currently being developed with credit bureaus and a Moroccan startup specialized in artificial intelligence. Finally, the stakeholders commit to strengthening and coordinating training, awareness-raising, and technical support actions intended for TPEs.