Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) profits from strong credit growth in Morocco
Moroccan lender Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP.CS) reported a 16 percent increase in 2008 net profit as it benefited from strong credit growth in the North African country, according to Reuters reports.
The banks Net income grew to 826 million dirhams ($100.4 million) from 715 million a year earlier, added the same sourcing quoting the BCP statement Revenues raised to 22 percent to 1.76 billion dirhams and lending soared 51 percent to 19.6 billion dirhams.
Morocco’s Banks Professional Grouping (GPBM) said Morocco’s banks are determined to keep credits flowing to the economy to sustain the North African country’s growth as more people take out loans for the first time as interest rates fall. Moroccan banks continue to finance big infrastructure projects, small and medium enterprises, productive investment projects, real estate and social housing. The protected currency has also helped extremely and with large scale FDI pumping more money into the system, there is an increasing Moroccan middle class and first time property buyers in the market which is fuelling the economy further. The most notable overseas investment recently is Renault’s $1 billion new manufacturing plant adjacent to the new Tangier Med Port inside the Free Trade Zone.
In a statement released by IMF on July 2008, called Morocco “a pillar of development in the region” and congratulated King Mohammed VI and the Central Bank on Morocco’s “continued strong economic progress and effective management of monetary policy”.
Despite the global economic malaise, Moroccan GDP rose by 6.5% in 2008, compared with 2.7% in 2007. GDP growth is expected to average 5.5% in the 2009-13 period due to prospects in the tourism and the non-agricultural industry despite the fact that Morocco’s key export market and source of tourists, the Euro zone, is projected to be more subdued.
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