Morocco’s unemployment rate falls to 10 percent in the first quarter of 2019

Unemployment rate in Morocco has dropped to 10 percent in the end of March, after it was at 10.5 percent last year, Reuters reported, quoting the Kingdom’s planning agency (HCP).

Heavy job losses in the farming sector were replaced by «gains» in other fields, the same source said. The agriculture and fisheries sector lost 152,000 jobs during the same period, due to law rainfall.

According to HCP, Morocco expects a 23 percent drop in rainfall in 2019, which will affect cereal harvest. Forecasts suggest that cereal harvest will fall by 40 percent to 6.1 million tons.

However, job losses in the farming sector were replaced by the creation of 144,000 jobs in industry (4,000) and construction (19,000).

For the record, Morocco’s planning agency expects the country’s economic growth to be at 2.9 percent in 2019 compared to 3 percent in 2018. Meanwhile, the agency said that Morocco’s economy will grow to 3.2 percent in 2019.