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Rabat - According to daily Al Massae in its Tuesday, January 28th issue, 5 billion U.S dollars is the estimated value of funds belonging to Moroccan nationals deposited in foreign bank accounts.
Based on figures released by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), Moroccan funds in foreign banks have recorded in 2013 a significant $ 1.2 billion rise compared 2012, at a time when the Moroccan government is trying to implement anti-cash smuggling measures in order to avoid a looming collapse of the economy.
However, the $5 billion figure may not be 100% accurate after all and scenarios of even bigger digits are very possible.
The BIS said they only had access to 40 banks, mostly European and American ones, which accepted to disclose information about the value of Moroccan funds inside their deposit boxes. Banks of other countries especially Arab countries denied access to such sensitive data.
International organizations have always ranked Morocco on top of African and Arab countries in which large funds are being smuggled out of the country and deposited in Swiss and European banks. It is estimated that more than 40% of the fortunes of rich Moroccans are in foreign countries.
The Bank for International Settlements is an international organization of central banks that is not accountable to any single national government and serves as a bank of central banks.
