The average payment time for public procurement by the State and local authorities in Morocco improved to 17.5 days in 2023, down from 18.3 days in the previous year, according to the 2024 annual report by the Observatoire des Délais de Paiement (ODP).
This reduction in payment times, reflecting better conditions for public procurement payments, is attributed to reforms initiated in 2016. The public procurement covered by these improvements includes public contracts, common law agreements or contracts, and purchase orders, as defined by Decree No. 2-16-344 of July 22, 2016, which sets payment deadlines and late payment interest for public procurement.
However, the average payment time for all public procurement by local authorities slightly increased to 17.3 days in 2023, compared to 16.5 days in 2022. The report also highlighted that the total public procurement by the State and local authorities in the past year amounted to 67.73 billion dirhams (MMDH) for 239,584 public purchase acts, up from 62.66 MMDH and 203,991 acts the previous year.
The total amount of late payment interest in 2023 was 14.1 million dirhams (MDH), down slightly from 14.17 MDH in 2022. Of this amount, 98.6% was due to delays related to public procurement expenses. Additionally, 33% of the late payment interest was paid on the initiative of ordering officers, while 67% was settled by public accountants as expenditures without prior authorization.
The Treasury General of the Kingdom (TGR) remains optimistic about the continued improvement in payment times for the State and local authorities in the coming years. This optimism is based on the ongoing digitalization of the financial and accounting chain for public expenditures and its adoption by various stakeholders.
