Improved relations with Morocco raise Spain’s trade surplus by 34%

Spain’s trade surplus with Morocco has increased by 34% in the past nine months, equivalent to an additional €649.5 million, reveals new trade data from Spain.

Spanish newspaper “The Observer” said that improved bilateral relations with Morocco had a significant economic impact on trade relations, partially compensating for the trade deficit recorded with Algeria since it announced the suspension of the Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighborhood and Cooperation, in protest against Spain’s support for Morocco’s sovereignty over the Sahara.

The  newspaper highlighted that Spain has always recorded a trade surplus with Morocco, where  exports of Spanish companies have always been higher than imports, in exchange for registering a trade deficit with Algeria due to the volume of its gas imports.

The data of the Spanish Ministry of Commerce indicate that exports to Morocco between last June and February 2023 exceeded 9,000 million euros, an increase of 18.7 %, while Moroccan imports from Spain amounted to 6419 million, an improvement of 13.4%, which means recording a Spanish surplus of 2587 million euros, up 34% from 1927 million recorded in the same period last year.

The same source highlighted that current trade with Morocco is witnessing their highest levels, with last February recording the highest value of exports (1053.2 million euros) since June last year, noting that in 2022, the exports of Spanish companies to Morocco amounted to 11,748 million euros, while imports amounted to 8692 million euros.

For The Objective, these figures are the culmination of the travel of the entire Spanish government, led by Pedro Sanchez, to Rabat to attend the 12th high-level meeting between the two countries, in which 11 Spanish ministers and ministers and 13 of their Moroccan counterparts participated.

On the other hand, the newspaper pointed out that although Morocco is Spain’s number one market in Africa, this growth in foreign trade is not accompanied by momentum in investments between the two countries, as official data reveal that in 2022, Spanish companies barely invested 3.5 million euros in Morocco, a figure well below the 44.6 million euros recorded the previous year.