"Despite an expected increase in credit risk, the impact study and the macro stress-test exercise carried out in the 4th quarter of 2020 are still showing, till now, the resilience of banks in the face of the shock induced by the health crisis," said Bank Al-Maghrib in a press release following the 12th meeting of the CCSRS.

In this risky environment, the same source went on to say, the banks succeeded in the first half of 2020 in preserving their fundamentals in terms of solvency and liquidity. "They generated, on a social basis, at the end of June 2020, an average solvency ratio of 15.5% and an average category 1 capital ratio of 11.4%, higher than the regulatory minima", it said.

It added that the liquidity cushion came out at 176% at the end of October, well below the regulatory minimum of 100%. In terms of profitability, the banking sector posted a 47% drop in net income at the end of June, mainly due to the significant rise in the cost of credit risk and the contribution to the special fund for covid-19 management.

In this regard, the rate of overdue loans from banks at the end of October worsened to 10.8% for non-financial companies and to 9.2% for households against respectively 10.1% and 8% at the end of 2019, noted the CCSRS.