Morocco's reserves to rise this year, central bank

Rabat, 22 Oct-(ANA)-Morocco's net foreign reserves will increase this year, not decline as previously forecast, the central bank governor  has said.

"We will improve the level of the net foreign reserves this year. We will end the year with a better level of the reserves than we had forecast," Abdellatif Jouahri told Reuters.

Morocco's net foreign reserves shrank to 162.974 billion dirhams ($19.96 billion) in June this year from 169.333 billion in December  last year, according to the latest official figures.

Government officials and business leaders had expressed concerns the country may face a foreign currency crunch as it had stepped up grain imports because of a falling domestic crop. (ANA)

FA/ANA/22 October 2010-------------