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Rabat – The Moroccan Exchange Office has revealed that Morocco’s trade deficit decreased by 16.2% during the first half of 2020. The deficit translates to more than MAD 85.58 billion ($9.2 billion).
The Exchange Office attributes the decrease in Morocco’s trade deficit to the falls in imports and exports by 17.5%, to MAD 206.89 billion ($22.3 billion), and 18.03%, to MAD 121.3 billion ($13.1 billion), respectively. The figures represent a comparison to the first half of 2019.
The office’s announcement came as part of its bulletin on foreign trade indicators for Morocco, issued in June. The report noted that quarter-on-quarter, the fall came to 25.1% for imports and 23% for exports.
The Exchange Office also revealed that the coverage rate fell slightly, by 0.6 points, to 58.6%.
Regarding the drop in goods imports, the Exchange Office linked it to the decline in purchases of almost all products.
This includes finished consumer goods, which decreased by MAD 14.03 billion ($1.5 billion), followed by capital goods with a decline of MAD 13.14 billion ($1.4 billion).
Energy products purchased declined by MAD 12.04 billion ($1.3 billion), semi-finished products by MAD 8.8 billion ($953 million), and raw products by MAD 2.07 billion ($224 million).
The office attributes the exports decline to the decrease in sales in almost all sectors.
This includes the automotive industry, recording a decrease of 33%, or MAD 28.14 billion ($2.9 billion), textile and leather by 34.9% (MAD 12.31 billion or $1.33 billion), aeronautics by 18.1% (MAD 6.94 billion or $748 million), and agriculture and food processing by 4.3% (MAD 33.15 billion or $3.5 billion).
The decreased exports also apply to phosphates and their derivatives, which dropped by 2%, or MAD 24.99 billion ($2.7 billion), other mining extractions by 29.7% (MAD 1.568 billion or $169 million), electronics and electricity by 5.2% (MAD 4.8 billion or $519 million), and other industries by 19.7% (MAD 9.39 billion or $1.01 billion).
Meanwhile, Morocco‘s trade deficit in 2019 grew by 1.5%, reaching MAD 209 billion ($21.6 billion).
