RABAT- Morocco's central bank said it will start buying hard currency from the local foreign exchange market on Monday to absorb surplus.

The decision would be maintained as long as needed to ensure a well-functioning market, it said.

Remittances from Moroccans living abroad, key to Morocco's inflow of hard currency, rose 45.6% over the year to July to 54 billion dirhams ($6 billion).

This has helped offset some of the losses of the tourism sector due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Morocco's foreign exchange reserves stood at 313 billion dirhams ($34.7 billion) by the end of August, enough to cover seven months of imports.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Alex Richardson) ((ahmed.eljechtimi@thomsonreuters.com;))