RABAT Dec 20 (Reuters) – The governor of Morocco’s central bank said on Tuesday he expected a budget deficit for 2011 of between 5 and 5.5 percent of gross domestic product, against a previous forecast of between 5 percent.
“We should close the year (2011) … with a budget deficit of between 5 and 5.5 percent,” Bank al-Maghrib Governor Abdelatif Jouahri told reporters.
He blamed higher food and energy subsidies for the increase in the deficit, predicting they would cost the state 46 billion dirhams ($5.4 billion), up from an initial forecast of 45 billion dirhams.
In a statement earlier on Tuesday, the central bank trimmed its GDP growth forecast for 2011 to between 4 and 5 percent from an previous 4.5-5.5 percent range.
($1 = 8.5030 Moroccan dirhams) (Reporting By Souhail Karam)
