Morocco’s Internal Debt Touches $59 Bln

File photo of a police officer standing near a Moroccan national flag in Agadir, December 10, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
File photo of a police officer standing near a Moroccan national flag in Agadir, December 10, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
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Morocco’s Internal Debt Touches $59 Bln

File photo of a police officer standing near a Moroccan national flag in Agadir, December 10, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh
File photo of a police officer standing near a Moroccan national flag in Agadir, December 10, 2013. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Data released by Morocco’s General Treasury revealed that the Kingdom’s internal debt, after experiencing a 2.2 percent hike since the start of 2019, stood at 561 billion dirhams ($59.05 billion) last May. 

The rise was traced back to the treasury resorting to withdraw a net amount of 8.7 billion dirhams ($915.8 million) from the Kingdom’s tender market as investors signed new bonds worth 55.5 billion dirhams ($5.85 billion) and 46.8 billion dirhams ($5 billion).

Whilst implementing this year’s general budget, the government experienced a funding shortage of 24.7 billion dirhams ($2.6 billion). This shortfall was financed by borrowing from the local financial market at 19.3 billion dirhams ($2.03 billion), while 5.5 billion dirhams (580 million dollars) was raised through foreign borrowing.

As for foreign debt, the government borrowed 9.5 billion dirhams ($1 billion), distributed between the World Bank at 7.1 billion dirhams ($747.4 million) and Arab Development Bank at 2.3 billion dirhams (242 million dollars).

The total debt of the Moroccan government stands at 720 billion dirhams ($76 billion), 78 percent of which is in internal debt and 22 percent in external debt.



Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
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Gold Jumps, on Track for Best Week in Over a Year on Safe-haven Demand

FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Gold bullions are displayed at GoldSilver Central's office in Singapore June 19, 2017. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

Gold prices rose over 1% to hit a two-week peak on Friday, heading for the best weekly performance in more than a year, buoyed by safe-haven demand as Russia-Ukraine tensions intensified.

Spot gold jumped 1.3% to $2,703.05 per ounce as of 1245 GMT, hitting its highest since Nov. 8. US gold futures gained 1.1% to $2,705.30.

Bullion rose despite the US dollar hitting a 13-month high, while bitcoin hit a record peak and neared the $100,000 level.

"With both gold and USD (US dollar) rising, it seems that safe-haven demand is lifting both assets," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

Ukraine's military said its drones struck four oil refineries, radar stations and other military installations in Russia, Reuters reported.

Gold has gained over 5% so far this week, its best weekly performance since October 2023. Prices have gained around $173 after slipping to a two-month low last week.

"We understand that the price setback has been used by 'Western world' investors under-allocated to gold to build exposure considering the geopolitical risks that are still around. So we continue to expect gold to rise further over the coming months," Staunovo said.

Bullion tends to shine during geopolitical tensions, economic risks, and a low interest rate environment. Markets are pricing in a 59.4% chance of a 25-basis-points cut at the Fed's December meeting, per the CME Fedwatch tool.

However, "if Fed skips or pauses its rate cut in December, that will be negative for gold prices and we could see some pullback," said Soni Kumari, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

The Chicago Federal Reserve president reiterated his support for further US interest rate cuts on Thursday.

On Friday, spot silver rose 1.8% to $31.34 per ounce, platinum eased 0.1% to $960.13 and palladium fell 0.6% to $1,023.55. All three metals were on track for a weekly rise.