According to BAM, the lowest long-term debt ratios are recorded in the sectors of agriculture, forestry and fishing in addition to accommodation and catering with respectively 10 and 31%.
The extractive industry and transportation and warehousing are the most indebted sectors in the long term. This is what reveals an analysis of Bank Al-Maghrib on the indebtedness of non-financial companies over the period 2014-2018. Companies in these 2 sectors in addition to the manufacturing industry also suffered the longest customer settlement times with trade receivables reflecting 210, 194 and 176 days of turnover respectively in 2018, against 150, 151 and 126 days of turnover a year ago.
Edifying analysis of Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM) on the indebtedness of non-financial companies over the period 2014-2018. The overall long-term average debt ratio of these structures was 44% in 2018, against 47% a year earlier. This development is essentially linked to the strengthening of their equity capital. The study, which focused on a sample of nearly 70,820 companies from different sectors of activity, indicates that this decline covers sectoral divergences where companies operating in the extractive industry experienced the largest increase in the rate of indebtedness. The latter thus rose from 53% in 2014 to 78% at the end of 2018. They are followed by companies specializing in transport and storage (50% against 41%). In addition, the lowest long-term debt ratios are recorded in the sectors of agriculture, forestry and fishing in addition to accommodation and catering with respectively 10 and 31%. According to the analysis, the largest contraction in long-term debt is observed among companies in the accommodation and food services and real estate activities. These saw their financial debt fall respectively from 46 to 31% and from 61 to 46% of their permanent capital, between 2017 and 2018. By category of business, very small businesses (VSEs) posted a debt representing 56% of their permanent capital. This is the highest average debt ratio in 2018, up 5% year over year. On the other hand, the debt ratio of large companies (GE) and SMEs fell by 3 and 2% respectively to stand at 44 and 41% in 2018.
Customer payments: contrasting situation
The sectoral analysis of customer payment terms reveals a mixed situation. The transportation and warehousing, mining and manufacturing sectors suffered the longest customer settlement times with trade receivables reflecting 210, 194 and 176 days of turnover respectively in 2018, compared to 150, 151 and 126 days of turnover at the end of 2017. While companies in the accommodation and catering sector benefit from the shortest payment terms from their customers of 43 days of turnover, taking into account the nature of their clientele which is structurally made up of individuals. The most significant increase in customer payment terms, from one year to the next, occurred at the level of companies operating real estate and information and communication. They saw their trade receivables increase respectively by nearly 67 and 57 days of their turnover, thus standing at 159 and 158 days of turnover in 2018. With regard to supplier payment terms, inter-company credit observed at the level of the sample increased overall by 33 days to stand at 105 days of purchases in 2018. The three business segments posted an increase in their supplier debt, at different rates, which was established on average at 111 and 104 days of purchases respectively for SMEs and VSEs at the end of 2018. The GE, with high bargaining power, maintained relatively high supplier payment terms of 118 days of purchases . In addition, VSEs would have passed on the significant increase in payment terms from their customers that they suffered in 2018 (+50 days of turnover) on their suppliers by increasing their payment terms by 37 days of purchases in 2018. It should be remembered that these supplier payment deadlines were reduced by 6 days between 2016 and 2017 for this segment of companies, mainly due to the contraction of their customers’ payment deadlines in 2017, which fell from 111 to 107 days from IT.
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