Historical Sketch

The Muslim conquest of Northern Africa started in the mid-7th century and reached out to the Maghreb in the early 8th, to continue into Spain in the following decades. The entire region became subject to the Umayyad caliphate, which was followed by a succession of Arab dynasties until, in 1631, the Alaouites took over Morocco and have remained in power since then. In the late 19th century, Spain was the first European power to carve out Moroccan territories, followed by France shortly afterwards. To keep others out of the game, Morocco was partitioned between the two in 1912, which established two distinct protectorates. The city of Tangier became an international city under a tripartite commission including Great Britain. In March 1956, the French protectorate was terminated, and Morocco attained independence as sultanate, later kingdom. The northern part of the Spanish protectorate joined only a month later, and Tangiers returned to Morocco in October of the same year. The southern part of the Spanish protectorate, finally, was handed over to in April 1958, but not so the Spanish Sahara territories which remained under colonial rule until the end of the Franco era. After the unilateral Spanish withdrawal in 1976, Morocco has claimed the Sahara territory, however, without gaining international recognition.

Monetary History Overview

Since the 17th century the Moroccan coinage had deteriorated to a state that it consisted only of hammered silver and copper pieces plus occasional gold, called "Benduqi" after the city of Venice since it corresponded to its Ducat. Spanish gold and silver coins flew in through foreign trade and dominated the circulating medium. In 1881, king Hassan I decreed the modernization of the monetary system. The Moroccan Riyal was a silver currency, and milled coinage replaced the medieval pieces. Spanish silver coins were also accepted in payments. Since Riyal was rated equal to five Spanish Pesetas, the 14% heavier Moroccan coins gradually disappeared from the market. In 1902, the Riyal's weight was reduced to the Spanish standard. The treaty of Algeciras of 1906 placed Moroccan financial affairs under Spanish and French oversight. The Spanish Peseta (locally referred to as "Peseta Hassani") acquired full legal tender status and reduced the Moroccan coinage to secondary. The partition and establishment of the protectorates of 1912 fully displaced the Moroccan currency. While in the Spanish zone the monetary situation after 1906 simply continued, was the French accounting introduced in their zone. In 1920, the Moroccan Franc was created as distinct currency at par with the French France. The Spanish and Moroccan currencies were demonetized within a year. Independent Morocco initially kept the Franc, the Spanish currency of the northern and southern parts of the Spanish protectorate were not demonetized but had to be exchanged individually at the official rate. In 1958, France reformed its currency in two steps. Morocco followed July reform of but not the December one since the introduction of a new national currency had already been planned, and the Moroccan Franc repegged to the US Dollar. In October 1959, two zeros were cut from the Franc, and the Moroccan Dirham became the new unit. The peg to the US Dollar remained in place until the floating of the exchange rate in mid-1973. After a period of currency stability, the Dirham lost more than 50% of its value in the first half of the 1980s. Since then, the exchange rate has remained more or less stable.

Morocco joined the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 25.04.1958.

Currency Units Timeline

Currency Institutes Timeline

Monetary History Sources