Morocco’s planning agency HCP expects Morocco’s economic growth rate to fall to 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019
Rabat – Morocco’s economic growth is expected to have decelerated to 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, down from 4.4 percent during the same period in 2017, the High Commissioner for Planning (HCP) announced January 2.
The non-agricultural production growth rate is expected to have decreased to 2.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018, down from 3.4 percent in the same period in 2017.
According to HCP’s forecasts, the non-agricultural production growth rate is expected to slightly increase to 2.9 percent in the first quarter of 2019.
In the third quarter of 2018, Morocco’s overall economic growth slowed to 3 percent, down from 3.9 percent during the same quarter in 2017.
HCP stated that Morocco’s primary economic sectors, fisheries and agriculture, recorded a sharp slowdown in growth rate to 4.1 percent in the third quarter of 2018, down from 13.4 percent in the third quarter of 2017.
Explaining the statistics, HCP said agricultural value added production grew by only 3.8 percent instead of 15 percent a year earlier. However fishing value added production grew by 6.8 percent compared to a decrease of 3 percent.
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Growth to fall to 2.5% in first quarter of 2019
HCP expects the national economy growth rate to fall to 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2019, down from 3.3 percent in the first quarter of 2018. The fall is due to an anticipated 0.7 percent fall in agricultural value added production.
Morocco’s central bank, Bank Al-Maghrib (BAM), expects Morocco’s economic growth to have slowed down to 3.3 percent for 2018 compared to 4.1 percent in 2017.
Concerning public finances, the budget deficit is expected to have widened to 3.7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2018 and continue, according to BAM’s forecasts, to remain at that level in the medium term.
Morocco’s GDP grew by 4.3 percent in the third quarter of 2018, and prices rose 1.3 percent, an increase over 0.2 price growth in the third quarter of 2017.
The government has approved a budget of MAD 443 billion for 2019 Finance Bill, aiming to achieve a growth rate of 3.2 percent in GDP.
