Article 772 - Financing of investments operations, imports, exports and foreign commitments.
The foreign lending operations contracted by legal persons duly registered in the commercial register indicated below are free:
- foreign credit lines contracted by Moroccan banks with foreign financial institutions in order to finance import transactions of goods and services;
- buyer or supplier loans contracted directly by Moroccan importers to finance their imports;
- loans contracted directly by Moroccan exporters of goods and services or through a Moroccan bank to finance or pre-finance their export operations;
- financial loans contracted directly by Moroccan companies or through a Moroccan bank and intended to finance investment operations in Morocco;
- advances to current accounts of partners;
- loans for the refinancing of existing commitments;
- foreign loans granted by foreign shareholders to Moroccan companies and intended to contribute to their cash flow.
Such financing must lead to the establishment of loan agreements or associates’ current account advances agreements, which must highlight the main characteristics of the contracted loan (amount, duration and terms of repayment, rate applied, and possible commissions). The contracts must also indicate which Contracting Party is responsible for the payment of taxes owed to Morocco in respect of the concerned loan.
The applicable provisions to these loans, regarding both the interest rate and the repayment period, must be compliant with the applicable provisions of the foreign markets at the date of conclusion of the loan agreement.
Loan agreements to be concluded by legal persons or individual other than those mentioned above, remain subject to the prior agreement of the "Office des Changes".
Article 773 – Submission of achievement reports.
The above operations must lead to the submission to the "Office des Changes" of a report accompanied by a copy of the loan agreement or the associates’ current account advances agreements and, as the case may be:
- copies of bank forms (2, 3 or 4), where applicable, bank certificates justifying the repatriation and transfer on the foreign exchange market of the amount of the loan or the associates’ current account advances;
- copies of import documents, in the case of supplier loans or buyer loans relating to the financing of import operations.
Article 774 - Settlement of maturities of the contracted loans.
The authorized intermediary banks are authorized to transfer the amounts due in principal, interest and commissions for the aforementioned foreign financing.
These transfers must be made:
- on the basis of a repayment schedule established in accordance with the financing contract and in the light of the duly charged import document, in the case of lines of credit contracted by the banks for the financing of imports or of buyer or supplier loans entered into directly by the importers;
- on the production of bank repatriation forms or certificates and the repayment schedule established in accordance with the loan agreement, for the other loan categories.
Authorized intermediaries must ensure, at each transfer, the settlement of the applicable taxes due for these financings when these taxes are, under the loan agreement, the responsibility of the lender.
The early repayment of the aforementioned financing, remain subject to the prior agreement of the "Office des Changes".
Article 775 – Bank guarantees.
Authorized intermediaries are authorized to issue or accept guarantees to guarantee:
- loans or other financial facilities in foreign currency granted by a non-resident to a resident in accordance with the provisions of this Instruction;
- repayments of advances, overdrafts or any other cash facility made by a licensed intermediary to a resident.
This bank guarantee must be counter-guaranteed by a senior bank established abroad. In the event of a foreign bank guarantee, the banks must repatriate and dispose of the corresponding amount on the foreign exchange market. It is understood that any discovery, advance and other financial facility in favor of a non-resident remain subject to the agreement of the "Office des Changes".
Authorized intermediaries must, before issuing the aforementioned bank guarantees, obtain from the related resident entities all relevant supporting documents. These documents must be kept by the authorized intermediary in accordance with the period of retention of the documents fixed by the commercial code and kept at the disposal of the "Office des Changes" for any subsequent control.
The implementation of these bonds must not give rise to any payment of interest or spread.