This reduction is explained by the respective falls in imports and exports of goods by 17.5% to MAD 206.89 bln and 18.3% to MAD 121.3 bln, said the Exchange Office in its bulletin on foreign trade indicators at the end of June, noting that quarter-on-quarter, the fall is 25.1% for imports and 23% for exports.

On the other hand, the coverage rate fell slightly by 0.6 points to 58.6%, added the same source.

The drop in goods imports is due to the decline in purchases of almost all product groups namely, finished consumer goods (-14.3 bln dithams), capital goods (MAD -13.14 bln), energy products (MAD -12.04 bln), semi-finished products (MAD -8.8 bln) and gross products (MAD -2.07 bln). However, the purchases of food products increased by 6.7 billion dirhams.

Regarding exports, their decline is due to the decrease in sales in almost all sectors, particularly the automotive industry (-33% to 28.14 bln dirhams), textile and leather (-34.9% to 12.31 billion dirhams), aeronautics (-18.1% to 6.94 billion dirhams), agriculture and food-processing (-4.3% to 33.15 bln dirhams), other mining extractions (-29.7% to MAD 1.568 bln), phosphates and derivatives (-2% to MAD 24.99 bln), electronics and electricity (-5.2% to MAD 4.8 bln) and other industries (-19.7% to MAD 9.39 bln).