Foreign trade: the trade deficit continues to decline

The trade deficit continues to narrow. At the end of March last year, it stood at Dh61.9 billion, or -14.6% in the first three months of 2024, according to the Foreign Exchange Office.

The cut covers a 4% decline in goods imports to Dh175.47 billion and a 3% increase in exports to Dh113.56 billion, the Foreign Exchange Office said in its monthly trade indicators bulletin. In this context, the coverage ratio increases by 4.4 points to 64.7%.

In detail, the Foreign Exchange Office explains the decline in imports by the decline in gross products by 22.3% to Dh7.19 billion, the decline in energy products by 13.6% to Dh28 billion and the decline in food products by 7.7% to DH21.88 billion Finished equipment products increased (+2.2% to DH41.24 billion), as did finished consumer products (+0.8% to DH39.35 billion ).

At the same time, aviation exports rose 13.7% to Dh5.8 billion, the largest increase, ahead of cars (+13.1% to Dh38.34 billion) and electronics and electricity (+5% to Dh6 billion). On the other hand, exports of ‘other mining’, ‘textiles and leather’, ‘agriculture and agri-food’ and ‘phosphates and derivatives’ fell by 22% to Dh1.14 billion, 3.7% to Dh11.69 billion respectively DH, 3% to DH25.62 billion and 2.3% to DH17.63 billion.