Highlights

Mr. Mohammed BOUSSAID, Minister of Economy and Finance, presented Thursday, July 17th, 2014 at the Government Council, the review of the achievements of the Finance Act during the first six months of 2014. The Minister stated, during this event, that the economic growth rate should be at 3.5% in 2014, despite the decline in agricultural added value due to the decrease in the collection of cereals.

The execution of the Finance Act 2014 has been implemented "normally and as expected”

In his speech, Mr. BOUSSAID noted that the implementation of the Finance Act for the year 2014 proceeds "normally and according to plan." He, thus, specified that the revenue relating to corporate tax increased by 7.8% in the first quarter of 2014, while those related to income tax and the domestic consumption tax grew respectively by 2.8% and 12.2%. 'On the other hand, VAT revenues declined during this period, due to the measures taken within the framework of the reform of this tax in the Finance Act 2014', explained Mr. BOUSSAID.

The Minister also held that the pace of investments increased, while compensation expenses showed a regression of 11%, due to the measures which were taken since the beginning of the current year.

The Minister of Economy and Finance, who discussed the main indicators of the economic environment at the international level, stated that on the commodity market, oil prices reached $ 109 a barrel, the same price compared to 2013.

Mr. BOUSSAID also drew attention to the results achieved by economic sectors, including the improvement of phosphate production, the growth of the production of processing industries and the rise of 2 points in the rate of use of production capacity to reach 70.2% at the end of May 2014. He also stated that the inflation rate was mastered during this period.

As for tourism, the Minister stressed the 8.8% increase in the number of tourist arrivals, 9.6% of the number of nights and 3.6% of tourism revenue at the end of June 2014.

In addition, Mr. BOUSSAID reported the gradual recovery of sectors outside agriculture, particularly at the level of automotive, aerospace, textiles and electronic sectors, except for the construction sector and public works.

Regarding indicators on foreign trade, the Minister concluded that they recorded a rise of 7.4% in exports, while imports increased by 4.7% in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period of 2013. He, therefore, noted that the rate of coverage of imports by exports rose to 49.6%.

In this context, Mr. BOUSSAID explained the rise recorded in exports, reflected through the increase of 35.6% in exports of automotive, 25.9% in electronics, 4% in textile and leather, 6.1% in aeronautics, 5.5% in pharmaceutical industry and 2.7% in agriculture and agribusiness.

Referring to the revenues of Moroccans Residing abroad, the Minister reported that they decreased slightly of 0.4%. He also noted that foreign exchange reserves exceeded 5 months and a day, compared to 4 months and 9 days in 2013.

Finally, as regards the reservoirs filling rate, Mr. BOUSSAID assured that an improvement was observed, which was 64.3% in 2013 against 72.6% in April 2014.