Falling output of refineries, leather, minerals, metals, machinery and electrical appliances cut Morocco’s manufacturing production growth to just 0.6% y/y in Q2 from a 1.4% annual expansion in the preceding quarter, data from the statistics office HCP showed. The print is relatively bad news for the government seeking to boost the value-added exports of new industries and in turn spur GDP growth.

Morocco’s manufacturing output in Q2 was dampened by faltering refineries production (down 5% y/y), metals (down 3.2%), leather, shoes and travel articles (down 6.1% y/y) and electrical appliances (down 3.8% y/y) among others.

Manufacturing output, however, remained afloat due to positive growth in the passenger cars sector (up 12.3% y/y), wood items (up 2.3% y/y) and papers (up 2.3%) among others.

The mining production also remained in the red, shrinking 6.2% y/y in Q2 on lower value-added phosphates output.

The electricity sector’s production grew 6.0% y/y in Q2 despite slowing from a 10.8% annual hike in Q1.

Strong agriculture output outweighed a still anchored expansion in the non-agro economy, fuelling Morocco’s GDP growth to 4.1% y/y in the first quarter of the year from 2.8% annual rise a year earlier and 1.8% y/y growth in Q4 2014.

Morocco’s GDP growth will accelerate to 4.6% in 2015 underpinned by a rebound in agricultural activities, strong growth in high value-added exports (in newly developed sectors such as automobiles, aerospace and electronics) and lower oil prices, the EBRD forecasts.

Excluding agriculture, Morocco's export-oriented economy grew a mild 2.0% in Q1. The mining output shrank 10.9% y/y on lower phosphate output while the hotels and restaurants sector dropped 1.0% y/y on weak tourism activity.