RABAT- Morocco's trade deficit widened by 3.8% in January-March from a year earlier to 49.13 billion dirhams ($5 billion) as exports slumped, the foreign exchange regulator said on Thursday.
Exports tumbled 10.6% to 68.21 billion dirhams, the regulator said in a monthly report, while imports dropped 5.1% to 117.34 billion dirhams in the first quarter when the world started to be hit by the impact of the coronavirus.
Travel receipts rose 2.3% to 16.85 billion dirhams but remittances from Moroccans living abroad dropped 4.7% to 14.53 billion dirhams and foreign direct investment slid 7.5% to 4.23 billion dirhams.
Morocco, which plans an international bond this year, drew this month on an IMF liquidity line of $3 billion to finance its balance of payments and offset a drop in foreign exchange reserves as the coronavirus hit exports, remittances and tourist arrivals.
Morocco's state planning agency has forecast the economy grew 0.7% year on year in the first quarter but will contract 6.8% in the second quarter, year-on-year, as the coronavirus outbreak hurts domestic demand and exports.
The IMF expects Morocco’s economy to shrink 3.7% in 2020, after growing 2.2% last year.
(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Susan Fenton) ((ahmed.eljechtimi@thomsonreuters.com;))
