the Foreign Exchange Office shows an increase of 6% in the volume of current transactions.
Balance of payments: The worsening of the current account deficit results from the development of the widening goods deficit as well as the amplification of the primary income deficit.
The current account deficit worsens in the third quarter of 2024. At the end of September it stood at around 17.5 billion dirhams compared to 7.3 billion dirhams recorded at the same period of the previous year. A development which, according to the Foreign Exchange Office, is explained by the increase of 8.3 billion dirhams in the goods deficit. The latter stood at around 199 billion dirhams for the first nine months of 2024 compared to 190.7 billion dirhams a year earlier. Added to this is the amplification of the primary income deficit. It went from -16.9 billion dirhams in September 2023 to -21.8 billion dirhams a year earlier, an increase of 4.9 billion dirhams. Furthermore, the services surplus remains almost stable compared to the same period of the previous year. We thus note a surplus of 101.8 billion dirhams. Supported by transfers from Moroccans around the world, the surplus balance in secondary income is improving. It climbed to 101.5 billion dirhams compared to 98.4 billion dirhams a year earlier, marking a consolidation of 3.1 billion dirhams year-on-year. Overall, the Foreign Exchange Office shows an increase of 6% in the volume of current transactions. It amounted to 1,220.7 billion dirhams at the end of September, an improvement of 69.4 billion dirhams, compared to the end of September 2023. This increase is driven, according to the Foreign Exchange Office, by an increase in revenue and expenses. Revenues came to 601.6 billion dirhams compared to 572 billion dirhams a year earlier while expenses reached 619.1 billion dirhams compared to 579.3 billion dirhams.
4% worsening of the trade balance deficit
-The evolution of the main indicators of foreign trade also shows an increase in the trade balance deficit. The latter worsened by 4%, going from 214.2 billion dirhams to 222.9 billion dirhams in one year at the end of September 2024.
In value, this increase is estimated at 8.7 billion dirhams. In this context, the coverage rate increased from 59.5% to 59.8% for the first nine months of 2024. This gap results from the increase in trade in goods. We thus note an increase of 4.8% in imports. Purchases thus stood at around 554.4 billion dirhams at the end of September compared to 528.9 billion dirhams at the same period last year, an additional 25.4 billion dirhams. For their part, exports increased by 5.3%, or an additional 16.8 billion dirhams. Shipments thus reached a value of 314.7 billion dirhams compared to 331.5 billion dirhams a year earlier.
Consolidation of 13.6 billion dirhams of financial assets
On the international investment side, the overall external position, which reflects the asset situation of the Moroccan economy vis-à-vis the rest of the world, shows a net debt situation of 785 billion dirhams compared to 787.8 billion dirhams in end of June 2024. Commenting on this situation, the Foreign Exchange Office notes an increase of 13.6 billion dirhams in financial assets and 10.8 billion dirhams of financial commitments. Referring to the Foreign Exchange Office, the increase in the outstanding amount of financial assets is mainly the consequence of the respective increases of 5.4 billion dirhams and 4.2 billion dirhams in the outstanding amounts of the “other investments” component. and “portfolio investments”. At the same time, the increase in financial commitments is explained by the increase of 13.1 billion dirhams recorded in the outstanding amount of “direct investments”, mainly attenuated by the drop of 2.6 billion dirhams in the outstanding “portfolio investments”.
