Although Morocco experienced a slowdown in its economic growth in 2022, the National Accounts of the Moroccan HCP have shown a clear improvement of the national economy in the first quarter of 2023; it grew by 3.5% instead of the 0.5% recorded in the same period of 2022.
Initially, this growth was largely driven by agriculture and services. Primary sector value added by volume recorded an increase of 6.6% in the first quarter of 2023, instead of a fall of 11.3% in 2022 over the same period, thanks in particular to an increase in agricultural activity (from -12.2% to +6.9%), as well as slower growth in fisheries (0.3% in 2023, compared with 3.3% in 2022).
On the other hand, the improvement in sectors of activity such as hotels and catering, transport, financial services and insurance, as well as services provided by public administrations and social security, have allowed the value added of the tertiary sector to increase by 5.4% in the same quarter, compared with 4.6% in 2022. However, the report notes a slowdown in growth in activities related to education, health and social services (4.5%), research and development and business services (2.1%), trade and vehicle repair (1.5%) and post and telecommunications (9.9%), although this has no impact on the economic growth of the sector as a whole.
Finally, value added in the secondary sector decreased by 1.3% in 2023, instead of 2.1% in the first quarter of 2022. This is because value added in the mining and quarrying, construction and public works, and electricity and water sectors also declined more than in the previous year. Overall, however, value added in the non-agricultural sector increased by 3.2% in the first quarter of 2023, compared with 2.4% in the previous year.
In this context, Morocco’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 8.9% in the first quarter of 2023, implying an overall price increase of 5.4%. While domestic demand remained broadly unchanged over the same period, instead of falling by 1.7% as in 2022, gross investment continued to decline. Specifically, it shows a decline of 2.6% in the first quarter of 2023, after a rise of 6.9% in the same quarter of the previous year.
As for foreign trade, both exports and imports increased sharply in the first quarter of 2023. Exports increased from 9.8% to 19.8%, contributing 7.8 points to growth instead of 3.1 points in 2022, while imports increased by 8.8% instead of 2% and had a negative contribution to growth of 4.2 points instead of 0.8 in 2022. With a total of 3.6 points, foreign trade contributed positively to Moroccan economic growth in the first quarter of 2023.
Finally, the National Accounts of the HCP announce an improvement in the financing capacity of the national economy, as, thanks to the increase in GDP and net revenues received from the rest of the world, Morocco’s gross national income grew by 9.9% in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 2.6% in the previous year. Gross investment, which represents 24% of GDP, will generate a financing capacity of 0.9% of GDP instead of a financing need of 5% of GDP in 2022.
Source : Atalayar
