Morocco’s Economy Slows Amid Drought and Global Uncertainties

This slowdown would be attributed to uncertainties related to the Russia-Ukraine crisis and especially to the severe drought that is raging in the country and affecting the agricultural season, reports Aujourd’hui le Maroc, citing the recent economic note from BAM.

In detail, the construction sector sees its added value slow down in the first quarter of 2022 with cement sales increasing by barely 1% against a contraction of 10.1% the previous year. Meanwhile, "electricity and water" shows a 4.5% increase in electricity production at the end of February against a decrease of 2.2%. Phosphate also recorded a 10.1% decline in production at the end of February.

Regarding the financial market, the banks’ liquidity needs amounted to 66.7 billion dirhams on average per week at the end of March, compared to 64.2 billion dirhams at the end of February 2022. The newspaper indicates that the liquidity injections amounted to 77.5 billion dirhams and 35.3 billion dirhams were injected through 7-day advances, against 21.5 billion dirhams in the form of repurchase agreements and 20.6 billion dirhams through guaranteed loans.