Latest news with #Rabat
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Morocco's central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments
By Ahmed Eljechtimi RABAT (Reuters) -Morocco's central bank was exploring the use of its own digital currency for peer-to-peer and cross border payments, bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said on Monday. A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is controlled by the central bank, in contrast to cryptocurrencies that are usually decentralised. Cryptocurrencies have been banned in Morocco since 2017, but the public continues to use them underground, circumventing restrictions. The bank has been working with the IMF and the World Bank to assess the payment system impacts of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jouahri told a conference in Rabat. The Moroccan central bank, together with its Egyptian peer and the World Bank, was also exploring the use of the CBDC for cross-border transfers, he said. A draft law on crypto assets is currently under review by the finance ministry before entering the adoption process, Jouahri said last month.
CNA
5 hours ago
- Business
- CNA
Morocco's central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments
RABAT :Morocco's central bank was exploring the use of its own digital currency for peer-to-peer and cross border payments, bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said on Monday. A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is controlled by the central bank, in contrast to cryptocurrencies that are usually decentralised. Cryptocurrencies have been banned in Morocco since 2017, but the public continues to use them underground, circumventing restrictions. The bank has been working with the IMF and the World Bank to assess the payment system impacts of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jouahri told a conference in Rabat. The Moroccan central bank, together with its Egyptian peer and the World Bank, was also exploring the use of the CBDC for cross-border transfers, he said. A draft law on crypto assets is currently under review by the finance ministry before entering the adoption process, Jouahri said last month.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Business
- Reuters
Morocco's central bank explores digital currency cross-border payments
RABAT, July 21 (Reuters) - Morocco's central bank was exploring the use of its own digital currency for peer-to-peer and cross border payments, bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said on Monday. A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is controlled by the central bank, in contrast to cryptocurrencies that are usually decentralised. Cryptocurrencies have been banned in Morocco since 2017, but the public continues to use them underground, circumventing restrictions. The bank has been working with the IMF and the World Bank to assess the payment system impacts of its central bank digital currency (CBDC), Jouahri told a conference in Rabat. The Moroccan central bank, together with its Egyptian peer and the World Bank, was also exploring the use of the CBDC for cross-border transfers, he said. A draft law on crypto assets is currently under review by the finance ministry before entering the adoption process, Jouahri said last month.
Arab News
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Arab News
Thousands in Morocco call for end to Gaza war
RABAT: Tens of thousands of Moroccans demonstrated Sunday in the capital Rabat against the dire humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip, calling for the reversal of the kingdom's normalization deal with Israel. Protesters gathered in the city center, brandishing Palestinian flags and placards calling for the free flow of aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. 'It's a disgrace, Gaza is under fire,' 'Lift the blockade,' 'Morocco, Palestine, one people' and 'no to normalization,' chanted the demonstrators. They had gathered at the call of various organizations, including a coalition bringing together the Islamist movement Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane and left-wing parties. Moroccans wave Palestinian flags during a march to express their solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Rabat on July 19, 2025. (AFP) The war in Gaza, sparked by militant group Hamas's deadly attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people who live in the coastal territory. Most people have been displaced at least once by the fighting, and doctors and aid agencies say they were seeing the physical and mental health effects of 21 months of war, including more acute malnutrition. 'Palestinians are being starved and killed before the eyes of the whole world,' said Jamal Behar, one of the demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday. 'It is our duty to denounce this dramatic, unbearable situation.' Morocco and Israel in 2020 signed a US-brokered normalization deal, which has increasingly come under attack in the North African kingdom as the war in Gaza rages into its 22nd month.
Reuters
2 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Morocco's economic growth to slow to 4% in 2026, statistics agency says
RABAT, July 15 (Reuters) - Morocco's economic growth is likely to slow down to 4% next year from 4.4% expected this year, the official statistics agency HCP said on Tuesday, citing global trade uncertainties. The forecast was based on assumptions of an average wheat harvest and a drop in foreign demand for Moroccan goods, the statistics agency said in a report. "The fragmentation of international trade and persistent uncertainties are expected to weigh on the growth of trade in goods and services, thereby limiting the recovery of foreign demand directed at Morocco," it said. Domestic demand continues to drive imports, contributing to the widening of the current account deficit seen at 1.9% of gross domestic product in 2026, up from 1.8% in 2025, the statistics agency said. The fiscal deficit would narrow to 3.4% of GDP in 2026, from 3.6% this year, as higher tax revenue offset increased government spending, it said.
