Reuters
RABAT, April 15 (Reuters) – Morocco’s trade deficit jumped 10.7 percent in the first quarter of 2014 from a year earlier to 51.44 billion Moroccan dirhams ($6.33 billion), the foreign exchange regulator said on Tuesday, mainly due to increased
wheat and energy imports.
The north African country’s wheat imports jumped 57 percent or 3.03 billion dirhams compared with the same period last year as the government suspended customs duties and introduced subsidies from the start of January to counter rising world prices. Those measures will expire at the end of April.
Energy imports rose 17 percent to 26.24 billion dirhams from 22.35 billion in the first quarter of 2013 as the non agricultural sector is starting to recover from the economic slowdown.
The regulator said total imports for the first quarter hit 98 billion dirhams – the highest figure for that period for five years. Tourism receipts increased by 2.6 percent to 12 billion dirhams, and remittances from the 4.5 million Moroccans living abroad decreased slightly by 0.1 percent.
Figures are in billions of dirhams:
Jan-Mar Jan-Mar Jan-Feb
2014 2013 2014
EXPORTS 46.56 44.98 29.41
IMPORTS 98.01 91.43 60.81
BALANCE -51.44 -46.45 -31.39
MIGRANT
REMITTANCES 13.41 13.42 8.79
TOURISM
RECEIPTS 12.01 11.69 7.95
FOREIGN DIRECT
INVESTMENT 7.62 13.74 4.98
($1 = 8.1287 Moroccan dirhams)
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Alison Williams)
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