Alert to provide cash to Moroccans on Eid's holiday days

Moroccan banks are about to react to the withdrawal of funds from their clients on Eid al-Adha, which reached record levels, which sometimes causes problems related to the non-responsiveness of ATMs.

The Central Bank of Morocco is trying not to repeat what happened on Eid al-Adha, when bank customers struggled to withdraw their money after exhausting their cash at ATMs.

For its part, the Moroccan University of Consumer Rights stressed the need to work to respect the terms of the contracts governing the relations between banks and their customers, insisting on the need to allow them to withdraw their money normal and avoid what happened last year.

Mohamed Larbi, a member of the Moroccan University of Consumer Rights, said the demand for cash was increasing in Eid, especially since the holidays will extend from Saturday to Wednesday, coinciding with the return of Moroccans living abroad and tourists, as well as travel by Moroccan families.

In a statement to the "new Arab", he stressed that the ATM does not have significant liquidity, which implies a periodic mobilization to feed them permanently, in anticipation of the exhaustion of the funds requested by the citizens. He pointed out that the scarcity of cash from ATMs could pose serious problems for bank customers, especially in high – cost emergency cases, noting that Moroccans have been using bank cards more in recent years.

Central bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said in September that funds withdrawn by Moroccans at Eid last year rose to 600 million dollars in one day. He spoke of the existence of some imbalances as the banks prevented the customers of other banks from withdrawing funds from their wickets. He had promised to raise the issue with the leaders of the banks, stressing that what had happened should not happen again.

The Central Bank of Morocco last Thursday called on banks to avoid the exhaustion of cash from electronic counters during the days of Eid, and announced measures taken to achieve this goal. In March, the number of bank cards reached 15.53 million.