Morocco's trade deficit alleviated by 2.4% in oct.2001

Morocco's trade deficit reached at the end of October 2001 some 36.25 billion DH (US$ 3.15 billion), a 2.4% decrease compared to the same period of 2000.

According to latest figures released by the exchange office, exports totaled 65.23 billion DH (US$ 5.67 billion) -an increase of 0.7%- while imports were worth 101.48 billion DH (US$ 8.82 billion), regressing by 0.4%.

Moroccan exports were buoyed by an increase of 8.4% of phosphates and by-products, a 4.9% progression in textile and leather items and a 4.8% improvement in agro-food exports. Meanwhile, importation of transport equipment regressed by 55.5%, of crude oil by 2.1% and of unprocessed wood by 14.8%. However, imports of textile products, of cereals and of chemical products increased respectively by 13.7%, 13.9% and 6.2%.

The evolution of exports compared to imports is behind the improvement of the coverage rate of imports by exports, which went up from 63.5% in end October 2000 to 64.3% in the corresponding period of 2001.