Morocco: The economy is slowing down; payment periods are getting longer

As a follow-up to the survey on Moroccan companies' payment periods published in May 2015, Coface here presents the results of the second edition. Based on the same principle as the 2015 survey, it seeks to analyse changes in Moroccan companies' behaviours and their perceptions of
the economic situation. Companies' payment behaviour remains a relevant indicator of the economic situation. An extension of payment periods and an increase in delays in transactions between companies indicate that they face problems. 2016 will be a difficult year for the Moroccan
economy, which is facing a slowdown in activity because of the poor performances of the agricultural sector. Even though the non-agricultural economy is proving to be resilient, payment periods tend to increase in all sectors and the companies surveyed expect activity to stagnate. Late payments continue to be one of the main obstacles to hiring and investment.

Who are our respondents?

The 2016 survey we present in this publication is based on the same methodology as the one in 2015 (1). On a voluntary basis, we asked 30 questions to Moroccan companies on their payment practices and their perception of the economic situation through an online questionnaire. While the 2015 edition sought to identify companies' payment behaviours by focusing on the structural aspect, in this second edition we focused more on questions of an economic nature.

208 companies of different sectors were willing to participate. Among the most represented sectors, the respondents mainly came from the following sectors: retailing (23%), business services (14.4%), construction (12.5%), agri-food (9.6%) and manufacturing industries (7.6%). By comparison with the 2015 survey, this edition includes more companies present in the domestic market (69.7% of the companies operate only in the domestic market versus 61.5% in 2015). Even though the breakdown of the companies by turnover is similar, more companies with less than 20 employees responded than in the first edition, but the number of small businesses (less than 100 employees) remains similar.