Morocco’s Trade Deficit Widens 3.8% in Q1 2020 Amid COVID-19 Impact

According to the foreign trade indicators of the Office, imports and exports of goods recorded, year-on-year, declines of 5.1% and 10.6% to 117.35 MMDH and 68.21 MMDH respectively. The evolution of these indicators takes into account the effects of the health crisis related to the covid-19 pandemic.

As for the coverage rate, it shows a loss of 3.6 points to 58.1%. Regarding the decline in imports of goods, it is due to the decline in imports of capital goods (-3.866 MMDH), semi-finished products (-1.283 MMDH), raw materials (-1.102 MMDH), energy products (-884 million dirhams MDH) and consumer finished products (-859 MDH). As for food purchases, they increased by 1.748 MMDH.

As for the decline in exports, it is explained by the decrease in sales in the majority of sectors, particularly in the automotive (-25.3% to 15.418 MMDH), aeronautics (-19.2% to 3.41 MMDH), textile and leather (-7% to 8.739 MMDH), phosphates and derivatives (-4.9% to 11.017 MMDH), agriculture and agri-food (-2.5% to 19.9 MMDH). It also concerns the electronics (-19.5% to 1.816 MMDH), other mining extractions (-26.6% to 787 MDH) and pharmaceutical industry (-16.3% to 272 MDH) sectors.

As for the services trade balance for the first three months of the year, it showed a surplus down 6% to 19.33 MMDH. As for service exports, they fell by 2.7%, mainly due to the decline in transport service revenues, while service imports remained stable (+0.4%).