2023-08-13 18:29:07
According to the 2022 annual report on Morocco’s foreign trade, just published by the Foreign Exchange Office, the country’s overall imports increased at a faster rate than exports, bringing the trade balance to the exceptional level of 308.8 billion dirhams in 2022 (22.7% of GDP), i.e. 109.7 billion dirhams more compared to 2021.
In a global context characterized by rising commodity prices and high inflation, Morocco’s trade transactions with the rest of the world increased by 40% to reach a value of 1.166 billion dirhams. In terms of imports, they increased by 209 billion dirhams or +39.5% in 2022 and stood at 737.4 billion dirhams. Exports, meanwhile, rose by 99.3 billion dirhams or +30.1%. The high levels of variation in the foreign trade aggregates are explained by the impact of inflation in 2022. Indeed, if the imports of goods in value increased by 39.5% compared to 2021, in volume, they did not exceed an increase of 4%: 62,920mT in 2022 once morest 60,472mT in 2021. As a result, the trade balance deteriorated by 109.7 billion dirhams, and stood at 308.8 billion dirhams, in 2022 , once morest 199.2 billion dirhams a year earlier. Consequently, the rate of coverage of imports by exports fell by 4.2 points from 62.3% in 2021 to 58.1% in 2022.
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The general increase in imports is largely attributable to purchases of energy products, semi-finished products and food products, which accounted for more than 75.7% of the increase. Imports of energy products increased sharply, driven mainly by the rise in prices and to a lesser extent by the quantities imported. These imports more than doubled and reached 153.2 billion dirhams in 2022, once morest 75.8 billion dirhams a year earlier. mainly from the increase in wheat imports (+11.6 billion dirhams). For their part, imports of finished equipment products amounted to 141.3 billion dirhams in 2022, up 19.3% compared to 2021.
With regard to Morocco’s exports to world markets, for the second consecutive year, these exports posted a growth of 30% in 2022 reaching 428.6 billion dirhams, once morest 329.4 billion dirhams in 2021. The phosphates and derivatives sector whose exports increased by 44% to reach 115.5 billion dirhams in 2022, becoming the leading export sector ahead of the automotive sector. Foreign sales in the automotive sector posted an increase of 27.6 billion dirhams or +33%, in 2022, compared to 2021.
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By country, the trade balance remained in deficit vis-à-vis our main trading partner, Spain. The trade deficit widened by 7.8 billion dirhams from 12.1 billion dirhams in 2021 to 19.9 billion dirhams in 2022. On the other hand, Morocco recorded a trade surplus with France which reached 2 .5 billion dirhams once morest 11.7 billion dirhams a year earlier, a drop of 9.2 billion dirhams. Trade with China generated a trade deficit of 70.6 billion dirhams in 2022, once morest 58.7 billion dirhams in 2021. The trade deficit vis-à-vis the United States also widened from 23.6 billion dirhams in 2021 to 40.4 billion dirhams in 2022. The trade balance vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia remained in deficit, reaching 46.7 billion dirhams, a deterioration of 31 billion dirhams in 2022 compared to the previous year.
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