The balance of trade in the first half of 2023 reached 138.2 Bln MAD, declining by 6.8% year on year (148.3 Bln MAD in 2022), according to figures released by Morocco’s foreign exchange regulator “Office des Changes”.
The office reported in its monthly bulletin that imports fell by 1.6% to more than 359.55 billion MAD, while exports rose by 1.9% to 221.34 billion MAD, with the overall coverage rate expanding by 2.2 points to 61.6%, up from 59.4 percent the previous year.
The decline in imports of goods is mostly attributable to a decrease in purchases of semi-processed products, energy-related goods, and raw materials, resulting in a 13.3% decrease in semi-processed products imports to 75.12 billion dirhams at the end of June.
Energy product supplies dropped by 14.8% due to a 22.8% fall in purchases of gas oil and fuel oil owing to a simultaneous drop in costs (-15.5%) and imported quantities (-8.6 percent), while raw product imports decreased by 21.5 percent.
Meanwhile, the office disclosed that imports of ready-made goods grew by 12.5%, following a combined increase of 29.9% in imports of parts of passenger cars and 29 % in importation of passenger vehicles. On top of that, imports of equipment (cables, wires, piston engines) ascended by 19.2%, while foodstuffs remained almost unchanged.
For merchandise exports, the automotive sector (+34.3%), electronics (+33.3%), and textile (+13.6%) experienced the largest growth.