by Mary Mimouna

Hours

Restricted Moroccan banking hours are definitely not what many foreigners are used to. Each bank has slightly different hours, so these hours are one thing that should be investigated before choosing to open your account there. Furthermore, summer hours (consisting of July and August) are different than year-round banking hours, so be sure you investigate both. Very occasionally, you can find a particular branch of a bank which is open different hours, or even different days. For example, some outlying branches (suburbs, Marjane) have Saturday morning banking hours, and are closed Monday mornings.

Here are two examples from banks in Marrakesh:

Attijariwafa Banque

September - June M - F 8:15 AM - 11:30 AM; and 2:15 PM - 5:00 PM

July - August M - F 8:15 AM - 3:00 PM only

Banque Populaire:

September - June M - F 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM; and 2:30 - 4:30 PM

July - August M - F 8:00 AM - 2:15 PM only

Moroccan Currency

The currency of Morocco is the dirham. Each dirham is divided into one hundred centimes. Decimal places in Morocco are denoted with commas. In the places we write commas in numbers in English, Morocco uses the French system of decimals in the place of our commas. (In other words, the places of decimals and commas are reversed from English usage.)

Money minted under the reign of Hassan II is still in circulation, and is still valid. New bills and coins which look a bit different, minted under Mohamed VI, are also in concurrent circulation. The dirham is usually indicated by "DH." Centimes can be noted as "cm."

Current denominations of bills include 20 DH, 50 DH, 100 DH, and 200 DH. The old 10-DH notes have mostly been removed from circulation, having been replaced with 10 DH coins. Coin values in circulation are 1/2 DH, 1 DH, 2 DH, 5 DH, and 10 DH. Centimes (small, and entirely gold-colored) exist in values of 5 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm.

If you are buying from small street vendors, they will not calculate prices in dirhams. They will use "riyals." (Riyals were a system in place in Morocco before the arrival of the French. Many small shopkeepers are Berbers, and this group of shopkeepers has not yet made the switch to calculating in dirhams.) One riyal is equivalent to a five-centime gold-colored coin. There are 20 riyals to the dirham. (So if a price is given to you in riyals, you must divide by 20, in order to get the price in dirhams.)

Banking Facts for Tourists

If someone is meeting you upon your arrival in Morocco, and you have a transfer from the airport, then you won't need to worry about getting cash in advance of arrival.

Changing Money at the Airport

While there is an exchange office at the airport that often opens when flights arrive, it it not always reliably open. There are also now two cash machines in each terminal of the Marrakesh airport; however, they also do run out of cash at times.

Therefore, if you are arriving at night, or on your own without a hotel transfer, try to get about 200 Moroccan dirhams before entering the country. Even though Moroccan dirhams are not permitted to be exported, you can usually find them at airport money changers in New York, Madrid, Paris, and London. The rates are terrible, but if you are arriving in Morocco at a time when airport banks are closed, or the machines are out of cash, and find that you have no dirhams to get from the airport to the hotel, you will find yourself in a jam. (Some taxi drivers might accept foreign currency, but it would be at usurious rates!