Morocco’s commercial deficit has widened by 6.1% reaching 52.51 billion dirham ($5.4 billion), against 49.48 billion dirham ($5.1 billion) over the same period in 2015. This was revealed by l’Office Marocain des Changes, (Moroccan office for currencies) which just published preliminary indicators of external exchanges for the first four months of 2016.

The year-on-year hike in commercial deficit results from higher imports (4.2%) this year compared to that at the end of April 2015. Imports were then 124.14 billion dirham ($12.8 billion) but soared to 129.38 billion dirham ($13.3 billion) at the end of April 2016. They exceeded exports which increased by 3% year-on-year (April 2015 - April 2016) from 74.66 billion dirham ($7.7 billion) to 76.87 billion dirham ($7.9 billion).

However, coverage rate of imports by exports rose slightly, from 59.4% to 60.1% at the end of April 2016.

Increase in acquisition of capital goods (+15.6%), finished goods (13.2%), semi-finished products are the main factors behind Morocco’s rising imports. Regarding exports, they were mostly led by the automobile industry (+14.9%), textile and leather (+4.8%), agriculture and agro-food (+3%).

The widening of Morocco’s commercial deficit in 2016’s first four months impairs efforts made by authorities to reverse the trend.

In fact, though usually characterized by a high deficit, Morocco’s external commerce improved at the end of 2015. This gap shrank by 18.7% compared to 2014, as exports rose and imports fell.