Morocco’s customs and indirect taxes administration (ADII) announced that the country’s customs earnings reached MAD95 billion (about $10.3 billion) in 2017.  Compared to the MAD90.5 billion (about $9.8 billion) collected the previous year, it represents an increase by 5.1% and it is also a record in the country’s history.

The administration further indicated that the returns processed by customs services increased to more than a million, during the period under review.

Moreover, over MAD2 billion (about $217.5 million) duties and taxes were collected following an increase of some VAT taxes. In the same period, 157, 000 vehicles were cleared.

According to ADII’s MD, Nabyl Lakhdar, these performances are due to the new Moroccan customs strategy whose implementation started in 2017.

“The ambition is to further enhance benefits level.  20 projects have been identified and several of them have already been initiated,” he said.

Nabyl Lakhdar also noted the enhanced cooperation with World Trade Organization (WTO), in addition to experiences sharing with customs in several other African countries.