By Loubna Flah
Morocco World News
Casablanca, August 18, 2013
The trade deficit continues to narrow since the beginning of the current year. Indeed, the deficit dropped during the first seven months by 5.1% reaching MAD 113,2 billion compared to MAD 119.3 billion reached last year.
The narrowing of the trade gap is ascribed to the drop in the energy imports which have decreased by 8.9% falling from MAD 61 billion to MAD 55.6 billion reached in June 2013.
The drop in oil imports helped to lower the total value of national imports at the beginning of the current year by 3.5%.
According to the exchange bureau, oil imports fell from MAD 19.9 billion reached in 2012 to MAD 16.7 billion at the end of June 2013. On the other hand, the amount of combustibles imports dropped also from MAD 3.8 billion to MAD 2.7 billion in the current year.
The decrease in the trade deficit is due also to a drop in food imports by 7.1%. Sugar imports reached MAD 2.5 billion whereas corn imports reached MAD 2.04 billion. On the other hand, wheat imports increased, jumping from MAD 6.25 billion last year to 6.53 MAD billion in 2013.
The volume of exports decreased since the beginning of the current year. Moroccan exports reached MAD 107.3 billion compared to MAD 109.1 reached last year. The drop in the exports is due to a drop in Phosphates sales, which have decreased by 18.3%, reaching MAD 23.2billion while leather and textiles imports reached MAD 19.5 billion.