Morocco\'s economic growth slowed in 2012

Morocco\'s central bank in Rabat Morocco\'s economic growth slowed to 2.7 percent in 2012, down from 5 percent in 2011, primarily due to the Eurozone banking crisis, the county\'s central bank has concluded. In its 2012 financial report presented to King Mohammed VI on Wednesday, Bank al-Maghrib also blamed disadvantageous climate conditions in Morocco for the slump.
Several sectors showed a dip in performance, with growth in the primary sector down by 7.2 percent, after an increase of 5.1 percent a year earlier. There as also an 8.9 percent decrease in agricultural production, despite a 13.7 percent increase in fisheries\' value.
In the secondary sector, the growth rate decelerated to 1.4 percent, instead of 4 percent caused by the fall of 2.4 percent in the mining activities and the slow-down of the industry, except for oil refining and the building and civil engineering. With a rate of 2.1 percent, the latter posted its lowest performance since 2002, which resulted in 21,000 job losses.