RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s foreign exchange regulator Office des Changes said the trade deficit for the January-November period stood at 166.5 billion dirhams ($19.5 billion), an increase of 24 percent from a year ago.
The regulator released the following data on the country’s trade, tourism receipts, transfers by Moroccan migrants and private foreign loans and investment (PFLIs) for the period.
Morocco’s currency is not fully convertible and any growth in tourism and remittances helps mitigate any destabilizing impact on the banking system from a net outflow of foreign exchange caused by the surge in the trade deficit.
(All figures are in billions of Moroccan dirhams)
JAN-NOV 2011 JAN-NOV 2010 JAN-OCT 2011
EXPORTS 154.8 134.1 142.1
IMPORTS 321.3 268.3 294.2
BALANCE 166.5 134.2 152.1
MIGRANTS 53.6 49.7 49.1
TOURISM 54.6 52.2 50.0
PFLIs* 22.0 25.5 20.0
(*) Private foreign loans and investment
For further details (in French) double click on:
hereéliminaires-des-échanges-extérieurs-novembre-2011
(Compiled by Souhail Karam)
($1 = 8.5276 Moroccan dirhams)
(Reporting By Souhail Karam; editing by Ron Askew)
