Rabat – Morocco’s trade with sub-Saharan Africa has recorded an average annual growth of 9.1 percent over the period of 2008-2016 and has generated a surplus trade balance of MAD 11.9 billion in 2016, according to the Foreign Exchange Office.
In its latest study on “Morocco-Sub-Saharan Africa trade under the Period 2008-2016,” the Exchange Office notes that Morocco is increasingly strengthening its trade partnership with sub-Saharan Africa.
Trade between the two sides has grown at an average annual rate of 9.1 percent since 2008, reaching nearly MAD 20 billion in 2016. The share of these exchanges is 3 percent of the total in 2016, against 2 percent 2008. However, these flows generate a surplus trade balance in favor of Morocco of MAD 11.9 billion in 2016 compared of 1.3 billion in 2008.
West Africa remains Morocco’s largest trading partner in the region with a total of MAD 11.2 billion in surplus trade balance, registering a 58.2 percent share in 2016 and an average annual growth rate of 13.8 percent between 2008 and 2016. There, too, trade is largely in surplus with MAD 10.2 billion exports registered in 2016 versus 1 billion in imports.
Senegal remains the main customer of Morocco in West Africa with commercial trade amounting to MAD 1.9 billion, while Nigeria is its largest supplier with 34.6 percent of total imports.
Exports from Morocco to West Africa are mainly driven by chemical products (29.2 percent) and the food industry (23.7 percent), while imports are more concentrated on food products (65.5 percent in 2016 compared to 39 percent in 2008.)
With more than MAD 2.94 billion in terms of commercial trade, East Africa is the second largest trading partner of the Kingdom in sub-Saharan Africa (a 15.5 percent share), but the CTBT of trade flows with this subregion is nevertheless the highest with a 23.5 percent increase between 2008 and 2016.
Morocco’s exports to this sub-region, mostly in the chemical industry, amounted to 2.6 billion in 2016, mainly to Ethiopia (28.7 percent) and Djibouti (27.8 percent). At the same time, imports, which consist mostly of food products, almost doubled to MAD 347 million in 2016, mainly due to new economic partnerships with Madagascar (31.3 percent) and Kenya (23.2 percent).
In addition, the study shows that Moroccan direct investment in sub-Saharan Africa is growing at an average annual rate of 4.4 percent to nearly MAD 3 billion in 2015. These investments account for 40 percent of total foreign direct investment (FDI) by Moroccans living abroad and 97.2 percent of those residing in Africa.
Morocco is investing mainly in the banking sector (43.7 percent in 2015), holding companies (20.5 percent), and real estate (8.9 percent). In addition, the stock of Moroccan FDI in sub-Saharan Africa has recorded an average annual growth rate of 22.4 percent since 2010, reaching MAD 17.1 billion in 2015, mainly in West Africa (75 percent) and especially Côte d’Ivoire with MAD 4.8 billion in trade.
