Imports up pressure on Morocco’s foreign reserves
Energy and food imports alongside a growing trade deficit put pressure on Morocco’s foreign currency reserves.
The Office des Changes (OC) published its monthly newsletter in early June, indicating a sharp rise in both exports and imports. The newsletter shows that remittances and phosphates were the leading sources of foreign hard currencies up to the end of April this year.
The OC revealed that remittances reached 30.56 billion Moroccan dirhams ($3.05 billion) compared to 29.03 billion dirhams ($2.9 billion) in the same period last year, representing an increase of 5.3%. Similarly, sales of the national phosphate company, the Office Cherifien des Phosphates, increased sharply by 98.68% reaching 36.14 billion dirhams ($3.6 billion), representing 25% of total exports.
“Due to the soaring prices of raw materials internationally, phosphate provides Morocco with important foreign currency revenue, which helps attenuate the trade balance deficit,” economic analyst Faical Hosaini told Al-Monitor.
According to the OC’s report, exports rose by 34.2%, driven essentially by a growth in phosphate sales. Morocco exported 139 billion dirhams ($13.9 billion) at the end of April 2022, compared to 103 billion dirhams ($10.3 billion) in April 2021. Besides phosphate sales and remittances, automobile and car manufacturing is also a major exporting sector.
