Improved relations with Morocco raise Spain’s trade surplus by 34%
According to fresh trade data from Spain, the country’s trade surplus with Morocco climbed by 34% over the previous nine months, or an additional €649.5 million.
The Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood, and Cooperation has been suspended by Algeria in protest at Spain’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara, according to the Spanish newspaper “The Observer,” but improved bilateral relations with Morocco have had a significant economic impact on trade relations, partially offsetting this deficit.
The newspaper emphasized that despite Spain constantly having a trade deficit with Algeria due to the size of its gas imports, it has always registered a trade surplus with Morocco, where Spanish companies’ exports have consistently outpaced imports.
According to data from the Spanish Ministry of Commerce, exports to Morocco between June of last year and February of this year exceeded 9,000 million euros, an increase of 18.7%, while imports from Morocco totaled 6419 million euros, an increase of 13.4%. This means that Spain recorded a surplus of 2587 million euros during this time period, up 34% from the 1927 million euros recorded during the same period last year.
The same source noted that current trade with Morocco is at its highest levels, with February 2018 recording the highest value of exports (1053.2 million euros) since June of last year. It was also noted that in 2022, Spanish companies will export to Morocco at a value of 11,748 million euros, while they will import 8692 million euros.
These numbers represent the outcome of the whole Spanish government’s trip to Rabat under Pedro Sanchez’s leadership to attend the 12th high-level meeting between the two nations, which included 11 Spanish ministers and 13 Moroccan colleagues.
On the other hand, the newspaper noted that although Morocco is Spain’s top market in Africa, official data show that in 2022, Spanish companies barely invested 3.5 million euros in Morocco, a figure that was significantly lower than the 44.6 million euros recorded the year before. This growth in foreign trade is not, therefore, being accompanied by momentum in investments between the two countries.
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