Morocco interest rate likely to stay at 3.25 pct -cbank

MARRAKECH, Morocco, May 29 (Reuters) - Morocco is likely to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 3.25 percent at a meeting next month, Central Bank governor Abdellatif Jouahri said on Friday.

'We will meet in June to review Moroccan economic policy, but all the indicators say that we will keep it at 3.25,' he told reporters on the sidelines of a finance conference in the Moroccan city of Marrakech.

The central bank cut the benchmark rate from 3.5 to 3.25 percent in March, saying underlying inflation was falling and the outlook for the global economy was likely to worsen.

Economic growth in the north African kingdom slowed to 4.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 from 5.4 percent in the third quarter and 6.5 percent in the second.

The slowing world economy is having a knock-on effect on exports, tourism, transfers of funds by Moroccans living abroad and foreign direct investment.