Morocco’s Trade Deficit Widens 10.4% as Exports Surge in Early 2021

The value of exports reached 126.68 billion dirhams for the first five months of the year, an increase of 23.5%, while imports increased by 18.1%, or 207.64 billion dirhams, said the Office of Exchange, adding that over the same period the coverage rate reached 61% against 58.3% in 2020, an increase of 2.7 points.

Regarding the increase in imports, it is due to the increase in purchases of most general products including ready-to-use products, semi-products and equipment transformation and energy products, while the increase in exports is linked to several sectors including automobile sales, textiles, leather, phosphates and their derivatives.

As for the value of automotive exports, it reached 35.38 billion dirhams at the end of May 2021, compared to 23.67 billion dirhams in 2020, an increase of 49.5%, while textile and leather exports recorded an increase of 38.8% at the end of May 2021, thanks to the increase in ready-to-wear sales of 44.8%, the Office of Exchange stressed.