Will The Moroccan Makhzen Regime Again Accuse Algeria Of Targeting The Dirham Currency?

Ms Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, has called on the Kingdom of Morocco to float (liberalize) its currency (the dirham) in order to face the rising inflation and its impact on the purchasing power of Moroccan citizens, as its current price on the foreign exchange market does not reflect the economic reality of the Kingdom of Morocco. Will the Moroccan regime accuse the Algerian authorities of having instigated the “IMF” official to make this statement?
The Director General of the International Monetary Fund, who paid an official visit to the Kingdom of Morocco last week, said: “It is good for Morocco to consider moving to an absolutely flexible exchange rate for the currency,” in the sense that the Moroccan government is being asked to leave the foreign exchange market as the one that determines the price of the currency and not the administrative decisions taken by the local central bank.
The Moroccan Makhzen regime had decided to partially liberalize its national currency in January 2018, and set the margin for floating the dirham at that time at 2.5% upwards and the same downwards, before expanding the floating margin to reach 5% in the year 2020, and at that time the value of the dirham was equivalent to 0.
This is the value that does not reflect the reality of the money market, but at the beginning of this year there was a collapse in the value of the Moroccan currency, and Moroccan circles did not hesitate at all at that time. 11, which is a value that does not reflect its reality on the money market, but at the beginning of this year there was a collapse in the value of the Moroccan currency, and Moroccan circles did not hesitate at the time to accuse Algeria of being behind the attack on the stability of the dirham.
The Moroccan economy is in the midst of an acute crisis, which has been exacerbated by the recent “Covid 19” health pandemic and has been further complicated by Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, which has plunged the world economy into a state of stagnation, leading to a significant rise in prices and a collapse in purchasing power in the Alawi kingdom. All this was accompanied by unabated popular street protests, which have continued in recent months to demand an improvement in the living conditions of the Moroccan people.
The ever worsening economic situation in the Kingdom of Morocco has led to doubts about the value of the Moroccan currency, accompanied by leaks about the collapse of the dirham. The value of one euro is equivalent to 18.35 dirhams, while the value of one dollar is equivalent to 17.18 dirhams, a transfer that indicated that the dirham had lost 75 per cent of its value.
This leak prompted the governor of the Central Bank of Morocco, Abdellatif Jouahri, to issue a statement denying that the dirham had fallen in value. However, a week after the first leak, on Wednesday 25 January 2023, the Net engine, “Google”, came out to provide new figures on the value of the dirham.
The Moroccan currency against the European single currency (euro) and the American currency, the dollar, presents figures close to those presented the previous week, to the effect that the value of one euro is equivalent to 16.01 dirhams, while the value in dollars is equivalent to 14.70 dirhams.
On that day, Moroccan specialists attacked Algeria, blaming it for the collapse of the dirham. Among them was Mehdi Lahlou, a professor of economics at Mohammed V University in Rabat, who described what was happening to his country’s currency as a “hostile operation” backed by Algeria and said: “There is external pressure on the price of the dirham and this is a criminal act.” Those who benefit are some external economic interests, it seems unclear… but those who have been waging war against Morocco for a year and a half in all sectors and all fields are neighboring Algeria and the Algerian authorities”, as he claimed.
The fall in the value of the Moroccan dirham, according to experts, is in line with the fragile economic reality in the western neighborhood, which is characterized by the bankruptcy of tens of thousands of start-ups, as figures show that in the first three months of 2023, 3,830 start-ups went bankrupt, an increase of 28 per cent compared to the same period last year. According to data from the “Anforesk” office, which specializes in financial and legal information for businesses, small businesses accounted for the largest share of bankruptcies last year, at around 98.8 per cent, compared with 1.1 per cent for medium and small businesses, and 0.1 per cent for large businesses.