RABAT- Morocco’s trade deficit shrank by 32.7% to stand at 16.4 billion dirhams ($1.84 billion) in January, the foreign exchange regulator said on Wednesday.

Moroccan imports dropped 16% to 41.7 billion dirhams and exports decreased 5.2% to 25.3 billion dirhams compared with the same month a year earlier, the regulator said in its monthly report.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the cost of energy imports, slowed trade and led to economic contractions that have hit both domestic and foreign demand.

The government had announced a plan to reduce imports by 34 billion dirhams by 2023 through encouraging domestic manufacturing.

As part of the same plan, 52 investment agreements - worth in total 4.2 billion dirhams - were signed last month between the government and operators in the textile, pharmaceutical, chemical, metallurgical, plastic, agri-food and wood sectors.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Bernadette Baum) ((ahmed.eljechtimi@thomsonreuters.com;))