If they remain solid in view of their average solvency ratio (15.7%) and their short-term liquidity coefficient (164%), Moroccan banks saw their profits plummet by 43.2% in 2020, to 6 , 8 billion dirhams against 12 billion in 2019. But the performance of their subsidiaries in sub-Saharan Africa was less affected by the health crisis. For the 2020 financial year, they represented 41% of the group’s net profits of their parent companies, notes Hiba Zahoui, director of banking supervision at the central bank (Bank Al-Maghrib). Despite the mechanical increase in this share due to the drop in results on the Moroccan market, the contribution of subsidiaries remains very important.
The warning, however, comes from the skyrocketing cost of risk. Provisions in the banking sector reached 20.5 billion dirhams (2.4 billion dollars) against 8.8 billion dirhams in 2019. Non-performing loans totaled 79.7 billion dirhams, or 7 billion more in one year, reflecting the impact of the health crisis on the solvency of borrowers, explains Bank Al-Maghrib.
