RABAT, February 13, 2012 (Reuters)
There is no pressure for Morocco to tap the international bond market in 2012 but it may decide to, the country’s finance minister said after its current account deficit surged last year to its highest since the 1980s.
Asked if the widening deficit gap would force Rabat to tap international bond markets, Nizar Baraka told Reuters: “There is no pressing need …but we remain eligible for a potential issue”.
Having surged to 6.5 percent of GDP in 2011 versus 4.3 percent in 2010, the current account deficit posed challenges mostly to the net energy importer’s foreign currency reserves, Baraka said.
“We will not face any difficulties in financing the current account deficit. The resources are available whether internal or from partners such as the European Union, the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB),” Baraka said.
(Reporting By Souhail Karam; Editing by John Stonestreet)
