Finance

AfDB successfully completes its first dirham-denominated bond issuance in Morocco

2 November 2026·2 min read

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced it successfully completed its first bond issue denominated in Moroccan dirham, worth one billion dirhams. Private placement with qualified investors, seven-year maturity, floating rate.

AfDB Successfully Completes First Dirham-Denominated Bond Issue

The African Development Bank announced on Friday that it had successfully completed its first bond issue denominated in Moroccan dirhams. The amount reached one billion dirhams.

The transaction took the form of a private placement with qualified investors. The bond has a seven-year maturity and a floating interest rate, indexed to the Moroccan Overnight Index Average (MONIA).

This issue forms part of a broader drive to diversify the Bank's funding offer in Morocco. The dirham joins its main funding currencies, notably the euro and the US dollar. The AfDB explains that this will allow it to serve a wider range of clients, with solutions better suited to their needs. Morocco was selected for this pilot initiative for four reasons: the strength of a long-standing partnership, the significance of the institution's portfolio of operations in the country, client demand for dirham-denominated financing, and the maturity of Morocco's financial ecosystem.

The Bank does not intend to stop there. It is considering a dirham-dedicated treasury portfolio, which could be funded by converting part of its liquidity into foreign currencies. It also says it wishes to contribute, alongside the Moroccan authorities and market players, to the deepening of the national financial market. It cites the development of hedging instruments and the strengthening of liquidity in the derivatives market.

For the AfDB, the development of local-currency financing is a strategic priority of its work. The lessons from this experience could, moreover, guide the gradual rollout of similar solutions in other African currencies. The operation is presented as the result of close collaboration between the Bank, the Moroccan authorities and players in the local financial market.

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