Morocco's budget deficit drops to 5.4 pct of GDP in 2013

Speaking at the cabinet meeting in Rabat, Boussaid said that these results are in line with the previously established expectations, adding that "the performance results of the 2013 finance bill confirm a significant control of the budget deficit to nearly 02 pct of GDP."

This improvement concerns both revenues and expenditures, he said, adding that such results were achieved through "government's measures to master the level of the deficit and public debt, as well as the efforts by various government departments."

In terms of the department's 2014 growth forecast, Boussaid said they are "credible and realistic," as they aim for a 4 per cent growth rate on the basis of an average crop year that will stabilize the unemployment rate at its current level of around 9 percent.

The official Planning Bureau published on Thursday different data saying that Moroccan economy is expected to grow by 2.4 percent in 2014, against 4.4 percent in 2013, due to an expected bad performance of the agriculture sector, the driving force of Moroccan economic growth.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/business/2014-01/24/c_133069488.htm