In 2017, Morocco’s external public debt increased to MAD332.35 billion ($36.1 billion), from MAD321.46 billion ($33.97 billion) in 2016. This information relayed by Xinhua, was announced last week by the country’s Directorate of treasury and external finance (DTFE).

On a year-on-year basis, this figure represents an increase by 6.36%, revealing that external public debt accounted for 31% of GDP in 2017, compared with 30.8% the previous year.

Moreover, foreign exchange reserves significantly dropped to $24 billion in late 2017, down 8.3% from 2016.

Multilateral institutions are Morocco’s major lenders with 43.7% of the external public debt, ahead of bilateral institutions with 29.3%. International financial market and commercial banks accounted for 23.4% of the debt.

Let’s recall that last week, the Moroccan customs and indirect taxes administration reported that it has collected a record $10.3 billion customs revenues in 2017.

Moutiou Adjibi Nourou (intern)