King Mohammed VI of Morocco received Abdellatif Jouahri, Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, at the royal palace in Tetouan on Monday. During the meeting, Mr. Jouahri presented the central bank’s annual report on the country’s economic, monetary, and financial situation for 2025.

Economic growth accelerates to 4.9% amid moderate inflation

In his address to the monarch, Mr. Jouahri noted that despite an international climate marked by successive global shocks and persistent uncertainties, Morocco’s national economy continued its upward trajectory in 2025. Driven primarily by significant investment efforts, GDP growth accelerated to 4.9%.

Despite this economic recovery, inflation remained well-controlled, averaging just 0.8% for the year.

In monetary policy, the central bank maintained an accommodative stance, lowering its key interest rate to 2.25%. Bank Al-Maghrib continued to meet all banks’ liquidity needs while intensifying initiatives to ease credit access for very small businesses.

Labor market and fiscal health

While economic acceleration boosted job creation, Mr. Jouahri pointed out that it was insufficient to significantly reduce the unemployment rate, which stood at 13%.

Fiscally, the budget deficit continued to shrink, reaching 3.5% of GDP. This improvement was supported by strong tax revenues and gains from innovative financing mechanisms.

Morocco’s external accounts remained stable, buoyed by tourism receipts, remittances from Moroccans abroad, and strong export performance in phosphates, phosphate derivatives, and aerospace. As a result, Bank Al-Maghrib’s official reserves strengthened to 443 billion dirhams, covering nearly five and a half months of imports.

Closing the perception gap and driving structural reforms

Mr. Jouahri emphasized that while these macroeconomic indicators point toward emerging economy status, sustainable progress requires a fairer distribution of growth benefits.

He highlighted a growing global phenomenon in Morocco in recent years: a disconnect between measured economic growth and citizens’ daily economic perceptions. According to the governor, this gap stems from two key factors:

• Slow labor market integration: Job growth has not yet met expectations. Bridging this gap requires improving education and training systems, maximizing investment spillovers, advancing structural reforms, and increasing private sector participation.
• Social inequalities: Citing the 2025 Throne Speech in which His Majesty the King warned that ‘there is no place, today or tomorrow, for a Morocco with two speeds,’ Mr. Jouahri stressed that despite substantial allocations to social safety nets, aid must be better targeted to reach the most vulnerable segments of the population.

To preserve fiscal flexibility amid high fixed spending and imminent pension system reforms, the governor called for strict resource rationalization, regular spending reviews, and accelerated reform of the organic finance law.

Strategic reserves and climate resilience

Looking ahead, Mr. Jouahri outlined several strategic priorities for long-term resilience:

• Strategic reserves of essential goods: Recurrent disruptions in global supply chains necessitate implementing the royal directives from October 2021 to build strategic reserves of essential products, shifting from a reactive to a preventive policy.
• Energy transition: Accelerating the shift to renewable energy will reduce external dependencies and prepare Moroccan exporters for the strict climate standards set by key trading partners.
• Water governance: Given the severe impact of climate change on water resources, water management and valorization must take center stage in public policy.
• Advanced regionalization: Under the 2024 royal directives, efforts in advanced regionalization must continue to mobilize local talent, fostering regional economic hubs and reducing territorial disparities.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Jouahri underscored that consolidating Morocco’s achievements requires sustained and effective coordination among all public and private actors, under the leadership of the Monarchy.

Following the presentation, Mr. Jouahri formally handed King Mohammed VI the central bank’s 2025 annual report, along with a commemorative gold coin minted by Bank Al-Maghrib to mark the first anniversary of the ‘Aid Al Wahda’ initiative.