Morocco's Trade Deficit Drops by 32.7% as Local Manufacturing Strengthened

Morocco's trade deficit dropped by 32.7% to $ 1.84 billion or 16.4 billion dirhams in January, according to the foreign exchange regulator.

The regulator said in its monthly report on Wednesday that the Moroccan imports fell by 16% to 41.7 billion dirhams, and exports decreased by 5.2% to 25.3 billion dirhams, year-on-year.

Meantime, the pandemic has lowered the cost of energy imports, slowed trade, and led to an economic downturn that affected domestic and foreign demand, however, Morocco produces French vehicles, mainly Renault, to enhance industrial exports.

[caption id="attachment_218634" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Moroccan hand-made textile market[/caption]

The kingdom has announced plans to reduce imports by encouraging local manufacturing to drop 34 billion dirhams by 2023.

Investment plans will include 52 agreements worth a total of 4.2 billion dirhams, which were already signed last month between the government and local operators. Local manufacturing is expected to be centered around local industries such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, metals, and agri-food, as well as the timber sectors.