Morocco’s Trade Deficit Shrinks 4.2% Year/Year in April

A Moroccan health ministry worker disinfects a street in the capital Rabat on April 9, 2020 during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic crisis. (Getty Images)
A Moroccan health ministry worker disinfects a street in the capital Rabat on April 9, 2020 during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic crisis. (Getty Images)
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Morocco’s Trade Deficit Shrinks 4.2% Year/Year in April

A Moroccan health ministry worker disinfects a street in the capital Rabat on April 9, 2020 during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic crisis. (Getty Images)
A Moroccan health ministry worker disinfects a street in the capital Rabat on April 9, 2020 during the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic crisis. (Getty Images)

Morocco’s trade deficit shrank by 4.2% to 62.7 billion dirhams ($7.11 billion) in the first four months of 2021, the foreign exchange regulator said on Tuesday.

Moroccan imports rose 10.7% to 165.3 billion dirhams, while exports jumped 22.3% to 102.6 billion dirhams from January to April compared to the previous year, the regulator said in a monthly report.

The automotive sector continues to top Morocco’s industrial exports at 29.5 billion dirhams, up 62.6%, while exports of phosphates and byproducts including fertilizers rose 16.9% to 18.1 billion dirhams.

Travel receipts, crucial to Morocco’s inflow of hard currency, dropped 65.7% to 6.4 billion dirhams, while remittances from Moroccans living abroad rose 45% to 28.8 billion dirhams and foreign direct investment increased 12% to 6.4 billion dirhams.