Xinhuanet
Source: Xinhua
Morocco’s trade deficit has exceeded 7 billion U.S. dollars, up 12 percent between January and April in 2018 compared with a year before, the country’s foreign exchange regulator said on Friday.
The rise in the deficit was driven by a year-on-year hike in imports by 9.2 percent to 15.88 billion dollars, according to exchange regulator statistics.
The hike was due to an 13.5-percent increase in equipment imports, a 10-percent rise in finished consumer goods and a 9.5-percent hike in energy products, the same source pointed out.
Total exports rose 7.2 percent year on year, but stood at only 9.27 billion dollars, pushed by a significant rise in industrial exports and food exports.
Phosphate exports, however, declined 4.5 percent to 1.35 billion dollars.
