RABAT- Morocco's Central Bank bought $670 million through two auctions on Monday and Tuesday to absorb a surplus of hard currency in the domestic market, the bank said on its website.

The bank had announced it would start buying currency starting on Monday and maintain auctions as long as needed to ensure a well-functioning market.

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 to offset some of the tourism sector's losses caused by COVID-19 restrictions.

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

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; editing by Barbara Lewis) ((ahmed.eljechtimi@thomsonreuters.com;))