Overview: The economy rebounded in 1988, helped by five years of IMF-supported reform efforts, as well as lower prices for food and oil imports. Real GDP growth--which dropped to 1.5% in 1987 in the wake of a yearlong drought--registered a 6% gain in 1988, fueled by a booming tourist industry and a surge in manufactured exports. The government's commitment to liberalizing trade and maintaining a competitive exchange rate are also key factors in the economy's recovery. The agricultural sector, including fishing, is still a major part of the economy, providing 50% of total employment and 30% of export revenues. Morocco has the third-largest deposits of phosphate rock in the world, but falling demand and low world prices have depressed earnings. Servicing the $19.8 billion foreign debt, high unemployment, and Morocco's vulnerability to external factors remain serious problems.

GDP: $18.0 billion, per capita $740; real growth rate 1.5% (1987)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.5% (1988)

Unemployment rate: 15% (1988)

Budget: revenues $4.0 billion; expenditures $5.0 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.2 billion (1987)

Exports: $3.3 billion (f.o.b., 1988); @m5commodities--food and beverages 30%, semiprocessed goods 23%, consumer goods 21%, phosphates 17%; @m5partners--EC 58%, India 7%, Japan 5%, USSR 35, US 2%

Imports: $4.2 billion (f.o.b., 1988); @m5commodities--capital goods 24%, semiprocessed goods 22%, raw materials 16%, fuel and lubricants 16%, food and beverages 13%, consumer goods 10%; @m5partners--EC 53%, US 11%, Canada 4%, Iraq 3%, USSR 3%, Japan 2%

External debt: $19.8 billion (1988)

Industrial production: growth rate 3.3% (1987)

Electricity: 2,064,000 kW capacity; 7,757 million kWh produced, 310 kWh per capita (1988)

Industries: phosphate rock mining and processing, food processing, leather goods, textiles, construction, tourism

Agriculture: not self-sufficient in food; cereal farming and livestock raising predominate; barley, wheat, citrus fruit, wine, vegetables, olives; some fishing; an illegal producer of cannabis for the international drug trade

Aid: NA

Currency: Moroccan dirham (plural--dirhams); 1 Moroccan dirham (DH) = 100 centimes

Exchange rates: Moroccan dirhams (DH) per US$1--8.333 (January 1989), 8.209 (1988), 8.359 (1987), 9.104 (1986), 10.062 (1985)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Morocco on this page is re-published from the 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Morocco Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Morocco Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.