RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s trade deficit rose 25 percent in 2011 to an all-time record 185.7 billion dirhams as its agriculture-reliant economy struggled to counter the growing cost of energy and wheat imports, official data showed on Tuesday.
Tourism receipts rose 4.3 percent in 2011 to 58.8 billion dirhams while remittances by Moroccan expatriates, most of whom live in Western Europe, rose 7.3 percent to 58.4 billion dirhams, data from the foreign exchange regulator showed.
Private foreign loans and investment meanwhile fell 35 percent to 25.5 billion dirhams. (Table )
Growth in tourism, remittances and investment helps mitigate any destabilising impact on the banking system from a net outflow of foreign exchange caused by the surge in the trade deficit.
Morocco’s currency is not fully convertible, which means the
authorities have to keep a check on the trade deficit to avoid straining the country’s foreign currency reserves.
The North African country posted a current account deficit equivalent to 4.3 percent its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2010. The central bank’s foreign exchange reserves stood at 166.4 billion dirhams by the end of 2011, which is enough to cover for five-and-a-half months’ import needs, one of the lowest levels in several years.
The trade deficit stood at 148.4 billion dirhams in 2010.
The deficit figure covers only exports and imports of goods. A surplus generated by exports of services absorbed 34.5 percent of the country’s trade deficit in goods in the first half of 2011. Figures for export of services in 2011 have not yet been published.
The country of almost 33 million people has no oil or gas of its own and is one of the world’s top grain buyers.
Nearly 40 percent of the increase in the value of imports stemmed from higher energy imports which reached around 91 billion dirhams in 2011, up 32.7 percent from 2010.
Morocco spent 31.8 billion dirhams on 5.06 million tonnes of crude oil in 2011 versus 5.24 million tonnes in 2010. The value of gasoline and fuel imports rose 65.7 percent to 32.4 billion dirhams for a 29.6 percent rise in volume to 4.9 million tonnes.
Wheat imports rose 48.3 percent in value to 11 billion dirhams for a 16.5 percent rise in their volume to 3.78 million tonnes.
Exports of goods rose 13 percent to 169.2 billion dirhams. Exports of phosphate and its by-products netted 47.28 billion dirhams by the end of 2011 up 31.8 percent from 2010, while they were up by an annual 44.4 percent in June.
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