Morocco's central bank paused its monetary tightening on Tuesday and kept its benchmark interest rate at 3%, following three consecutive hikes to curb inflation.
Inflation, driven by food prices, would stand at 6.2% this year before dropping to 3.8% next year, the bank said in a statement following its quarterly board meeting.
Morocco's economy would grow by 2.4% in 2023 and 3.3% next year, after expanding by 1.3% in 2022, it said.
The High Commission for Planning said Tuesday that the annual inflation of consumer prices slowed down to 7.1% in May compared to 7.8% the previous month.
Food items’ prices rose 15.6% compared to last year, while non-food items’ inflation prices rose 2.4%. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4%.
Core inflation, which excludes more volatile prices, stood at 6.4% year-on-year and 0.1% month-on-month.
This concurs with a rise in tourism indices in Morocco during the past month in which more than five million tourists arrived in Morocco by the end of June, an increase of 20% compared to the same period in 2019.
This hike follows the completion of coronavirus-related repercussions that limited the usual turnout in Moroccan tourist landmarks and impacted tourism and foreign currencies income.
Tourism achieved revenues of around 32 billion MAD ($3.2 billion) at the end of April, an increase of 40% compared to the pre-pandemic period, the Moroccan National Tourism Office (MNTO) revealed in statistics last week.
Arrivals from Spain, the UK, Italy, Germany, and the Gulf countries increased, making a positive impact on hotels, expanding air transportation, and promoting Morocco as a tourist destination.
The cities of Marrakesh, Fes, Agadir, and Tangier are among the top destinations that witnessed high turnout by the Europeans specifically.
