Morocco’s trade deficit stood at nearly 91.32 billion dirhams (MMDH) at the end of April 2023, up 2.6% compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the Office des Changes.
Imports increased by 3.2% to more than 237.04 billion dirhams and exports increased by 3.6% to 145.72 billion dirhams, specifies the Office in a document on the monthly indicators of foreign trade for the month of April, noting that the coverage rate stood at 61.5% against 61.2% a year earlier.
The increase in imports of goods is due to purchases of capital goods, those of finished consumer products and those of food products, explains the foreign exchange office.
Indeed, imports of capital goods increased by 19.1%, standing at 50.99 billion dirhams at the end of April, said the same source.
With regard to imports of finished consumer products, these increased by 10.7%, mainly following the increase in imports of parts and parts for passenger cars by 36.7% to 10.06 billion dirhams at the end of April 2023 .
For their part, imports of food products recorded an increase of 7.3% due, in part, to the increase in imports of live animals (684 million dirhams (MDH) against only 184 MDH).
On the other hand, supplies of energy products fell by 1.7% following the 13% decline in purchases of diesel and fuel oils, mainly due to a simultaneous drop in prices (-1.8%) and quantities imported (-11.4%).
Similarly, imports of raw products and those of semi-finished products fell by 10% and 10.4% respectively.
With regard to exports of goods, this increase mainly concerns the automotive sector (+40.4%), that of electronics and electricity (+34%) and that of textiles and leather (+11, 6%).
On the other hand, sales in the agriculture and agri-food sector fell by 1.8%, while those in the aeronautics sector also fell by 8.5%.