Morocco’s Exports Surge 6.8% in August, Led by Automotive and Food Industries

Before the finance committee, the Minister of Finance, Mohamed Benchaâboun justified this recovery by the relative improvement in external demand addressed to Morocco, reports L’Economiste. The sectors concerned by this positive change are the automotive industry (+45.2%), the food industries (+33.3%), the textile and leather industry (+4.6%) and the housing sector through cement sales (+18.6%).

As for the degree of recession, it has fallen by 1.5 percentage points of growth against 0.9 percentage points for the measures taken since March in terms of support for household demand and consumption and 0.6% for the incentive to invest. These measures are at the origin of the update of the growth rate for 2020 to -5.8% instead of 7.3%.

According to the Kingdom’s Finance Minister, this rate could be revised as soon as the second wave of the pandemic appears, as is the case in Europe. Several social measures have been decided by the government in order to support the affected sectors and secure jobs. Citizens who have lost their income during this period have received 21 billion DH. More than 46 billion DH have been granted, in the form of loans guaranteed between 90 and 95% to 74,000 VSEs and SMEs.

As for compulsory health coverage, it will cover nearly 22 million Moroccans, including more than 10 million poor families registered under the Ramed scheme. For the Minister of Finance, all these people will be able to benefit from the AMO from next January.