Moroccan companies are experiencing a significant increase in bankruptcy cases, with over 6,665 companies having their activities suspended in the first half of this year. This marks an 18% increase from the previous year.
According to the data issued by the “Inforesc” office, which specializes in legal and financial information about Moroccan and Maghreb companies, the second quarter of this year alone recorded 2,883 bankruptcies, an increase of 6 percent compared to the same period last year.
The largest share, as usual, of bankruptcies in the first half of the current year was recorded at the level of small enterprises, at 98.8 percent, compared to 1.1 percent for medium enterprises.
In the previous year, around 12,397 companies in Morocco were at risk of bankruptcy, which marks an increase of 17.4 percent compared to 2021. It is predicted that by the end of 2023, this number will rise to approximately 15,000 cases, according to “Anforesk”.
In terms of sectors, companies involved in commerce were affected the most, as their share of total bankruptcies was about 33 percent, real estate companies with a share of 20 percent, then construction and public works with 15 percent.
Casablanca topped the list of cities with the largest number of bankruptcies, with a share of nearly 27 percent. In second place came Rabat with a share of 7 percent, then Marrakesh and Tangiers with a share of 6 percent each.
The increase in bankruptcies recorded in the past few years is due to the effects of inflation on the prices of raw materials and the increase in the cost of production. Not to mention the problem of long performance deadlines among private companies, which extend for months, in addition to the long deadlines for performance by public companies, as the average has returned to rise since the beginning of the current year, reaching 38.4 days in the first half of it, after it was in the range of 33.9 days.