Royal Palace in Tetouan - His Majesty King Mohammed VI Receives the Governor of Bank Al-Maghrib

In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions. My Lord, Your Majesty, the humble servant of the noble threshold, the Wali of Bank Al-Maghrib, is honored to present to Your Majesty the central bank's report for the year 2025. My Lord, in an external environment marked by successive shocks and persistent uncertainty, the national economy continued its improvement during 2025, recording a growth rate of 4.9%, supported particularly by the great effort in investment. Despite this pace, inflation stabilized at a low average not exceeding 0.8%. Regarding monetary policy, Bank Al-Maghrib continued to follow a management approach, reducing the key interest rate to 2.25% while continuing to meet all banks' liquidity requests, and intensifying efforts to facilitate access to financing for small enterprises. In the labor market, the recovery in growth raised the number of new jobs created, but this improvement was not enough to lead to a tangible decrease in the unemployment rate, which reached 13%. Regarding public finances, the budget deficit continued to decline, stabilizing at 3.5% of GDP, thanks to the good performance of tax revenues and the significant returns from innovative financing mechanisms. On the external accounts front, the current account deficit remained limited, supported by travel receipts, remittances from Moroccans living abroad, as well as phosphate and its derivatives exports and the aircraft manufacturing sector. Overall, Bank Al-Maghrib's reserve assets reached 400 billion dirhams, equivalent to nearly five and a half months of imports. My Lord, these developments generally suggest the continuation of the momentum that the national economy is experiencing, which strengthens hope for rising in the future to the ranks of emerging countries economically and socially. However, achieving this goal requires, in addition to continuing to improve the growth rate, a better distribution of its fruits. In recent years, a gap has been observed between economic performance measured according to scientific methodology and citizens' perception, a global phenomenon attributable to several factors. In our country, this disparity is mainly due to the fact that employment has not yet seen the expected improvement. This situation leads, in addition to continuing to rehabilitate the education and training system, to consolidating the investment framework while continuing structural reforms to improve its productivity and give a greater role to the private sector to ensure sustainability. On the other hand, this gap is also due to the level of social disparities, which is what prompted Your Majesty to warn that there is no place today or tomorrow for a Morocco that moves at two speeds. This fact requires, despite the significant resources allocated to social support, more precise targeting for the benefit of the most vulnerable groups. Rationalizing resources remains a necessary necessity as well to strengthen the margins of the public budget, given the high level of non-reducible expenditures and the expected consequences of reforming pension systems, which has become imperative. Therefore, it is necessary, in particular, to carry out a regular review of expenditures as well as accelerate the reform of the organic law on finance. On another level, and given the repeated disruptions in global supply chains for many basic materials, implementing Your Majesty's instructions regarding the creation of a strategic stock of these materials has become an urgent necessity, to enable a transition from a curative approach to a preventive one. Moreover, accelerating the energy transition would reduce external dependence as well as prepare exporting activities to adapt to the environmental standards that a number of the Kingdom's trading partners are imposing. Finally, regarding the advanced regionalization project, it has seen remarkable momentum since Your Majesty's speech in 2024, and strengthening this dynamic requires mobilizing competencies to accelerate its implementation, which will enable the creation of regional economic poles that contribute to reducing spatial disparities. My Lord, ensuring the sustainability of the important achievements our country is making requires continuing full mobilization of all actors at all levels within approaches based on coherence and effectiveness of interventions under the leadership of the royal institution, which remains the fundamental pillar of our country, a driving force and a source of initiative. May God preserve you, my Lord, as He preserved the Holy Book, and keep you a treasure and a refuge for your loyal people, guide your steps, and delight your eyes with your noble Crown Prince, His Royal Highness Prince Moulay El Hassan, and strengthen you with your brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, and all members of the noble royal family. He, glorified, hears prayers and fulfills hopes. Peace be upon the high station with God, and the mercy and blessings of God. God bless you, my Lord.