Morocco's trade deficit increased by 8.2 percent to reach 9.87 billion U.S. dollars in the first half of 2017 year-on-year, according to statistics by the foreign exchange regulator.
The rise in the deficit was driven by 36.1 percent in energy bill, which reached 3.3 U.S. dollars.
It was also due to an increase in equipment imports by 5.4 percent, totalling 5.8 U.S. dollars.
As for Morocco's exports, they rose 6.6 percent from a year earlier to 12.4 billion U.S. dollars, achieved mainly through a 8.9 percent rise in phosphate exports totalling 2.1 billion U.S. dollars.
Tourism receipts slightly fell by 0.7 percent, while remittances from some 4.5 million Moroccans living abroad fell 0.2 percent to nearly three billion U.S. dollars.
For the foreign direct investment, they raised by 20.1 percent to nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars.