RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s trade deficit widened 56.9% to 287 billion dirhams ($27.5 billion) in the first 11 months of this year, mainly as a result of higher energy costs, data from the foreign exchange regulator showed on Friday.
Imports rose 42.3% from a year earlier to 676 billion dirhams, while exports increased 33% to 389 billion dirhams, the regulator said in a monthly report.
Morocco’s energy bill soared the most, up 110% to 141.5 billion dirhams, while the cost of wheat imports more than doubled to 24 billion dirhams after the worst drought in decades.
Morocco, which has the world’s largest phosphates reserves, reported a 54.8% rise in exports of the mineral and its derivatives – including fertilisers – to 108 billion dirhams.
The automotive sector led industrial exports with 100.3 billion dirhams, up 35%.
Tourism revenue rose 153% to 81.7 billion dirhams as the sector recovers from the pandemic.
Remittances from Moroccans abroad, a key source of hard currency, increased 14.6% to 99.5 billion dirhams, while foreign direct investment rose 31.5% to 35.3 billion dirhams.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
