Slight increase of Morocco's exports in 2001

Exports in 2001 earned Morocco some 72.54 billion DH (about US$ 6.30 billion) compared to 71.35 billion DH the previous year, scoring a slight increase of 1.7 percent.

The increase was made possible by a 10.7 percent progression of exports of phosphates and phosphates by-products, which stood at 12.86 billion DH ($1.11 billion) compared to 11.62 billion DH in 2000, said the exchange office in a release.

Exports of textile and leather items and exports of agri-food products have also progressed respectively by 4.4 percent and 5.1 percent.

This slight increase of overall exports -despite a decrease of exports of sea products (-9.6 percent), agricultural produce (-11.0 percent) and electric and electronic devices (-3.2 percent)- contributed to alleviating the trade deficit by 3.3 percent. The trade deficit thus went down from 41 billion DH (about $3.56 billion) in 2000 to 39.7 billion DH (nearly $3.45 billion) in 2001.

Morocco's imports did not score any noteworthy change and stood at 112.3 billion DH ($9.76 billion), the exchange office said adding that the oil bill amounted to 13.3 billion DH ($1.15 billion).