On January 1, 2026, Morocco’s Office des Changes put a new rulebook into force: the Instruction Générale des Opérations de Change 2026, known as IGOC 2026. It is the consolidated reference for every foreign exchange transaction in the country, and it represents the most substantial liberalization of the Moroccan exchange regime in years.
For foreign investors who are already operating in Morocco — or who are evaluating it — IGOC 2026 changes several practical thresholds that affect how capital moves, how dividends are repatriated, and what happens when documentation is incomplete. This post is a focused breakdown of what changed, what stayed the same, and what it means for foreign investment decisions in 2026.
For the broader context — Morocco’s exchange regime, the convertibility regime, Form 2, and the full investor playbook — see our complete guide to foreign exchange rules for investors in Morocco.
1. What IGOC 2026 Is and Why It Matters
The IGOC is the consolidated rulebook for every foreign exchange operation in Morocco — inbound, outbound, current account, capital account. It is issued by the Office des Changes (Foreign Exchange Office), the Moroccan regulator that controls cross-border currency movements.
The IGOC is reissued periodically. The previous edition had been the operating standard for several years; IGOC 2026 replaces it in full and entered into force on January 1, 2026.
It matters because Moroccan banks — the front-line enforcers of the regime — apply the current IGOC to every wire, every dividend transfer, every investment registration. When the IGOC changes, what your bank will or will not process changes with it.
2. The Strategic Context: Morocco’s 2025–2029 Vision
IGOC 2026 is part of a broader policy program the Moroccan government calls Strategic Vision 2025–2029. The explicit goal is to liberalize capital flows in a controlled manner, maintain external balances (foreign exchange reserves and the dirham’s stability), and improve Morocco’s attractiveness as an investment destination.
The macroeconomic backdrop supports the reform: foreign exchange reserves reached around MAD 455 billion at the end of 2025, foreign direct investment inflows were strong, and the dirham held steady inside its 5 percent fluctuation band. The Office des Changes, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and Bank Al-Maghrib judged that conditions were right to relax several long-standing restrictions.
The reform was unveiled at the headquarters of the CGEM (Morocco’s main employers’ federation), and the digitization of Office des Changes processes through its “Smart” platform now handles most authorizations.
3. New Outbound Investment Ceiling for Digital Companies
One of the most commercially significant changes in IGOC 2026 is the new MAD 10 million annual ceiling for outbound foreign investments by Moroccan companies certified by the Digital Development Agency (ADD).
Under the previous regime, Moroccan companies wishing to invest abroad faced two restrictive conditions: a minimum three-year operating history and the requirement to have audited accounts certified by a statutory auditor. Both conditions excluded most early-stage startups from any meaningful outbound investment activity.
IGOC 2026 removes both requirements for ADD-certified entities. The new conditions are:
- The company must be certified by the Digital Development Agency
- The investment must be related to the company’s business activity
- The annual ceiling is MAD 10 million per calendar year (approximately USD 1.1 million)
This is a structural change: Moroccan startups can now acquire foreign technology, take stakes in foreign subsidiaries, and invest abroad in their early years — something that was previously off-limits. For the wider regional context, the early 2026 fundraising data showed Moroccan startups participating more actively in MENA capital flows.
4. New Transfer Right for Long-Term Resident Foreign Investors
A second major change addresses a longstanding documentation problem. Many foreign investors who came to Morocco a decade or more ago — particularly retirees and small-business owners — invested in real estate, businesses, or agricultural projects without complete Form 2 documentation. Under the previous regime, those investors were locked out of repatriating any income because their investments could not be linked to a foreign currency origin.
IGOC 2026 introduces a corrective measure:
- Foreign investors residing in Morocco for at least ten years
- Who cannot produce proof of foreign currency financing for their investment
- May now transfer investment income abroad up to MAD 2 million per year
This ceiling applies to dividends, rental income, and other investment yields generated by the investment. It does not extend to capital — the original investment principal — but it ends the situation where compliant taxpayers were trapped indefinitely with income they could not repatriate.
5. Travel and Business Allowances Increased
For foreign-resident managers, board members, and investors who travel between Morocco and their home country, IGOC 2026 raises several practical ceilings:
Personal travel allowance: Up to MAD 500,000 per year, comprising a base allowance of MAD 100,000 plus a supplementary allowance of MAD 400,000 calculated as 30 percent of personal income tax paid.
Business travel allowance: Up to MAD 1 million per year for companies without foreign currency accounts, and up to MAD 1.5 million for companies with convertible accounts.
Student living-expense transfers: Increased from MAD 12,000 to MAD 15,000 per month. Relevant for foreign investors whose children study abroad and for Moroccan-domiciled students.
These ceilings are practical, not theoretical. They affect whether a CFO can route a vendor payment through a corporate card abroad, whether a director can be reimbursed for international travel without administrative friction, and whether an executive can support family members studying overseas through formal channels.
6. E-Commerce, Service Exports, and Service Imports
Three additional reforms target the digital and services economy:
E-commerce allocations: Annual e-commerce allocations rise to MAD 2 million for young companies. Relevant for any company importing software, SaaS subscriptions, advertising services (Google Ads, Meta), or digital tools paid through online platforms.
Service exporters with foreign contracts: Contractors holding contracts abroad can now fund their foreign currency or convertible dirham accounts up to the amount of repatriated funds, with a cap of 15 percent of total contract value. This benefits Moroccan IT services companies, consulting firms, and engineering offices working under foreign contracts.
Service import settlements simplified: Restrictions on which entities can handle service-import settlements have been removed, the rules clarified, and the list of authorized entities expanded.
7. Hedging Tools Expanded
IGOC 2026 broadens access to hedging instruments — primarily forward contracts and currency options — used to manage exchange rate exposure. For Moroccan companies with significant import or export exposure to euros and dollars, this means more flexibility in pricing forward foreign currency obligations and reducing P&L volatility.
For foreign investors, this matters indirectly: a Moroccan subsidiary with proper hedging instruments has a more predictable financial profile, which improves the quality of dividend forecasts and the timing of repatriation decisions.
8. What Did NOT Change
It is worth being explicit about what IGOC 2026 did not alter:
- The convertibility regime remains unchanged in its core mechanics. Foreign currency origin, Form 2, and registration with the Office des Changes are still the prerequisites for free repatriation. See our post on the convertibility regime for a deeper treatment.
- Form 2 and Form 3 remain the standard documentation. The IGOC 2026 simply consolidates the rules around them. See our post on Form 2 and Form 3.
- The dirham fluctuation band is unchanged. Bank Al-Maghrib still manages the dirham within plus or minus 5 percent of its reference basket.
- Restrictions on agricultural land ownership by foreigners remain.
- AMMC disclosure thresholds for portfolio investors are unchanged.
In short: the architecture is the same; the ceilings inside it are higher.
9. Compliance Implications: The Trade-Off
Liberalization comes with a compliance trade-off that is easy to miss. Higher ceilings under IGOC 2026 are conditional on:
- Proper certification (ADD certification for the MAD 10 million outbound ceiling)
- Continuous documentation of every foreign transfer
- Maintenance of detailed records that can withstand regulatory review
- Banking-grade evidence that funds are allocated to permitted activities
The Office des Changes has digitized most of its authorization processes through its “Smart” platform, which means that compliance review can now happen faster and more systematically. For investors who are properly documented, this is a benefit. For investors with incomplete files, it means problems are detected sooner.
What This Means for Your Investment Plan
If you are evaluating Morocco as a destination, IGOC 2026 generally improves the case: outbound flexibility is greater, allowances are higher, and several previously frustrating gaps have been corrected. If you are already operating in Morocco, the practical changes are concentrated in three areas:
- Dividend repatriation timing — fundamentally unchanged, but the procedural rules are now clearer.
- Outbound business investment — substantially expanded if your Moroccan entity is ADD-certified.
- Travel and operational transfers — easier and higher.
For investors operating without complete F2 documentation, the new ten-year transfer right may finally allow regularization of long-trapped income. This is a complex case-by-case analysis and almost always requires advisory support.
How Neo Expertise Helps
Adapting your compliance setup to IGOC 2026 typically involves a documentation audit — verifying that existing F2 records, foreign investment registrations, and bank files are aligned with the new rulebook. Where gaps exist, the new ten-year transfer right or the corrected resident-foreigner regime may offer paths that were not previously available.
Neo Expertise supports foreign investors through this review and through the day-to-day compliance with the regulatory framework for starting and operating a business in Morocco.
Related Reading
- Foreign Exchange Rules for Investors in Morocco: The Complete 2026 Guide
- How to Start a Business in Morocco (2026 Guide)
- Form 2 & Form 3 in Morocco: The Documents That Protect Your Repatriation Rights
- Convertibility Regime in Morocco: Who Qualifies and Why It Matters
- Free Zones in Morocco: CFC and Industrial Zones 2026
Brahim Rami | Member of institute of chartered accountants in Morocco
He is a CPA and tax advisor, founder of NeoExpertise.net, a Legal and Tax firm helping foreign companies with business setup, due diligence, payroll, and tax compliance in Morocco and Africa.
