RABAT, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Morocco's trade deficit widens 6.9 percent to 11.1 billion U.S. dollars in July compared with a year earlier, the foreign exchange regulator said on Sunday.
The rise in the deficit was mainly driven by hike in imports by 7 percent to 25.1 billion U.S. dollars, as energy bill rose by 33.3 percent to 3.9 billion U.S. dollars and spending on equipment imports rose 1.8 percent to 5.9 billion U.S. dollars.
Total exports rose 7.1 percent from a year earlier to 14 billion U.S. dollars, pushed by rise in agriculture exports by 10 percent to 3.1 billion U.S. dollars and phosphate exports by 7.9 percent to 2.5 billion U.S. dollars, the exchange regulator said.
The flow of foreign direct investment reached 1.7 billion U.S. dollars in July, up by 33.8 percent year-on-year.
