Office of Foreign Exchange: Trade Deficit Exceeds 225.9 Billion Dirhams by End of August

The recent report from the Office of Foreign Exchange indicates that Morocco's trade deficit has surpassed 225.9 billion dirhams by the end of August. This development is attributed to an 8.4% increase in merchandise imports, totaling 533.42 billion dirhams, while exports rose by 3.8% to 307.49 billion dirhams. Consequently, the coverage rate declined by 2.6 points to 57.6%. The rise in imports is primarily due to significant increases in various categories: raw products (+31.5%), finished consumer goods (+13.4%), finished equipment goods (+13%), semi-finished products (+7.1%), and food products (+2.2%). In contrast, the energy bill saw a decrease of 6.2%. On the export side, growth was mainly driven by shipments from the "Phosphates and derivatives" sector (+21.1%), the "Aerospace" sector (+5.6%), and the "Agriculture and agri-food" sector (+3.8%). Additionally, the Office of Foreign Exchange reported a 10.3% increase in the surplus of the services balance, which now exceeds 102.04 billion dirhams. This increase is attributed to a rise in both imports (+8.1% to 100.24 billion dirhams) and exports (+9.2% to 202.28 billion dirhams).