Morning Brief June 17, 2020

ECONOMIC HEADLINES

| MOROCCO | KEY RATE | BAM reduced the key rate by 50 BPS to 1.5%

The Board of Bank Al-Maghrib, held on Tuesday June 16th 2020, decided to reduce the key rate by 50 BPS to 1.5% and to fully lib-erate the reserve account in favour of banks. Note that Bank Al-Maghrib forecasts a drop of -5.2% in GDP in 2020, due to the com-bined effect of drought and the restrictions adopted to limit the spread of Covid-19. In 2021, growth is expected to rebound to +4.2%.

| MOROCCO | PUBLIC FINANCES | Figures at the end of May 2020

According to Bank-Al-Maghrib, Treasury’s ordinary revenues posted a 5.2% decrease at the end of April 2020 to MAD 82.4 Bn. Indeed, tax revenues declined by 7.2% MAD to 77.3 Bn while non-tax revenues amounted to MAD 4.6 Bn, up 75.1%.
Overall expenses reached MAD 115.8 Bn, up 6.3%, reflecting the 9.0% increase in ordinary expenses to MAD 91.2 Bn and the 2.6% decrease in Capex to MAD 24.6 Bn. In addition, subsidies expenses amounted to MAD 5.4 Bn during the same period, up 2.3%.

| TUNISIA | TOURISM | Receipts down 38% as of June 10th 2020

As of June 10th 2020, Tunisia's tourism receipts decreased by 38.0% to TND 1,055.8 Mn against TND 1,702.9 Mn during the same period of 2019.

| CÔTE D’IVOIRE | INFLATION | An inflation rate of 2.3% in May 2020

According to the National Institute of Statistics (INS) of Côte d'Ivoire, the Harmonized Consumer Price Index recorded a slight increase of 0.4% in May 2020, compared to the previous month. On a y-o-y basis, the country's inflation rate settles at 2.3% below the community convergence threshold of 3.0% set by the WAEMU.