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According to data from the Central Bank of Morocco, ''cash'' has grown, despite the government's efforts to encourage electronic financial transactions, as circulation reached a record $34.2 billion with a growth rate of around 10.8%.

Cash management, risk control and short and medium-term performance management are the key priorities identified by Morocco's financial departments for 2023. From the reports collected, Morocco ranks second among Arab countries in remittances after Egypt. We highlight that the Kingdom is evolving in adapting credit card payments, however, the most popular payment method for Moroccans is cash.

The volume of cash in circulation at the end of 2019 reached Dh250 billion and increased by Dh50 billion in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This large increase at the time was due to the state's financial assistance to vulnerable groups and the call for citizens to buy more than usual during the quarantine period, according to the Al-Tijari Research centre, which says it is the highest level in history and represents about 30% of GDP.

According to the British research study "Merchant Machine", Morocco is in the top 20 most cash-dependent countries in the world in 2022. " 74 % of all payments in Morocco are made in cash, with 71% of the population without their own bank account and only 0.2% with a credit card, indicating that the majority of Moroccan citizens still rely on cash for their transactions," the study added. 

Younes Issami, Deputy Director of Monetary and Exchange Operations, said some of the reasons for the increase in currency circulation were the rise in prices, the jump in expatriate remittances and the growth in tourism revenues. The increase in cash in circulation puts a lot of pressure on banks and increased their liquidity needs, which amounted to around Dh90 billion last year, thus affecting the industry's ability to finance the entire economy.

Economist Mohamed Shaker believes that Moroccans' preference for working with cash is due to a number of factors, including the fact that working with a bank requires a steady monthly income that not everyone can afford.

Morocco is considered an unbanked population, as 71% of Moroccans do not have bank accounts and most transactions are done in cash, but nevertheless internet payments reached 34.9% or over 5.9 million an average of 346 dirhams. However, the number of payment cards has evolved, with an increase of 2.6% in 2022 compared to 2021.

According to Bank Al-Maghrib data dating back to 2021, bank accounts in Morocco reached 31.2 million, up 5% compared to 2020. About 7.7 million Moroccans have one bank account, 4.3 million of them have two accounts, with more than three there are only 3.5 million Moroccans and finally more than 5 accounts is only a number of 552,000.

To solve the problem of cash circulation among Moroccans, Bank Al-Maghrib launched in 2018 a mobile money transfer and payment service based on an e-wallet linked to a phone number.  Abdellatif Jouahri, governor of Bank Al-Maghrib, had called on the government to approve tax incentives for merchants to join mobile payment services to further encourage them and accelerate the process of financial inclusion. The country intends to focus on accelerating the dematerialisation of social benefits, supported by mobile payment recovery strategies.