Reuters
by Aziz El Yaakoubi
Morocco’s trade deficit rose 6.5 percent to 85.24 billion dirhams ($8.72 billion) in the first half of 2016 compared with the same period a year ago, due to higher imports, the foreign exchange regulator said on Monday.
Equipment imports rose 15.4 percent to 55.8 billion dirhams, while auto imports were 43.3 percent higher at 7.36 billion dirhams, the data showed.
Wheat imports also jumped as bad weather hurt the local harvest this year, up 19.1 percent from a year earlier to 7.4 billion dirhams at the end of June.
The North African kingdom’s energy import bill fell 31.6 percent to 24.23 billion dirhams compared with a year earlier. Morocco is the biggest energy importer in the region.
Total exports rose 1.6 percent from a year earlier to 114.87 billion dirhams, led by a 15 percent rise in auto exports. Phosphate sales fell 12.1 percent to 19.61 billion dirhams.
Tourism receipts rose by 3.4 percent, while remittances from the 4.5 million Moroccans living abroad were 3.9 percent up to 29.14 billion dirhams. Foreign direct investment fell 12.5 percent to 17.1 billion dirhams.
Figures are in billions of dirhams :
2016 2015 2016
EXPORTS 114.87 113.01 95.92 IMPORTS 200.10 193.04 163.34 BALANCE -85.24 -80.03 -67.42 MIGRANT REMITTANCES 89.14 28.05 24.33 TOURISM RECEIPTS 26.26 25.39 21.53 FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 17.09 19.53 13.68
($1 = 9.7720 Moroccan dirham)
(Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Catherine Evans)
