Reuters
RABAT, May 15 (Reuters) – Morocco’s trade deficit rose 3.7
percent in the first four months of 2014 from a year earlier to
68.93 billion Moroccan dirhams ($8.43 billion), the foreign
exchange regulator said on Thursday.
Growth in the deficit eased compared with the first quarter
of 2014 when it jumped 10.7 percent from a year earlier, mainly
due to increased wheat and energy imports.
Morocco’s exports rose 4.3 pct in January-April, thanks to
auto industry exports which surged 48 pct to 13.9 billion
dirhams, covering a significant part of the deficit.
The regulator said imports for January-April totalled 133.50
billion dirhams, up from 128.42 billion a year earlier, as the
economy has started to recover from the crisis in the euro zone,
a major export market, and the Arab spring turmoil. Energy
imports rose 7.6 percent to 34.07 billion dirhams from 31.67
billion in the same period of 2013.
Wheat imports jumped 46.7 pct to 8.36 billion dirhams
compared with the same period last year as the government
suspended customs duties and introduced subsidies from the start
of January to the end of April to counter rising world prices.
Tourism receipts increased by 3.8 percent to 16.77 billion
dirhams, while remittances from the 4.5 million Moroccans living
abroad fell 1.4 percent.
Figures are in billions of dirhams:
Jan-Apr Jan-Apr Jan-Mar
2014 2013 2014
EXPORTS 64.57 61.91 46.56
IMPORTS 133.50 128.42 98.01
BALANCE -68.93 -66.50 -51.44
MIGRANT
REMITTANCES 17.96 18.21 13.41
TOURISM
RECEIPTS 16.77 16.15 12.01
FOREIGN DIRECT
INVESTMENT 7.59 9.70 7.62
($1 = 8.1736 Moroccan dirhams)
(Reporting By Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Susan Fenton)
