RABAT (Reuters) – Morocco’s trade deficit swelled 56.5% to 214.7 billion dirhams ($20 bln) in the first eight months this year on the back of higher energy and wheat imports, the foreign exchange regulator said on Monday.
Imports rose 44.8% from a year earlier to 491.5 billion dirhams, while exports increased 37% to 276.8 billion dirhams, the regulator said in a monthly report.
Morocco’s energy bill soared the most, up 128.3% to 103 billion dirhams, while the cost of wheat imports more than doubled to 18.8 billion dirhams.
Morocco, which has the world’s largest phosphates reserves, reported a 67.7% rise in the exports of the mineral and its derivatives – including fertilisers – to 77.8 billion dirhams.
The automotive sector led industrial exports with 66.7 billion dirhams, up 30%.
Tourism revenue more than doubled to 52.2 billion dirhams as the sector recovers from the fallout of the pandemic.
Remittances from Moroccans abroad, key to the country’s inflow of hard currency, increased 11.3% to 71.4 billion dirhams, while foreign direct investment rose 36% to 26.7 billion dirhams.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtim; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
