Morocco GDP growth dips to 1.4 pct year-on-year in second quarter

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco's economic growth fell to 1.4 percent year-on-year in the second quarter of 2016, slowing from 1.7 percent in the previous three months, due to a severe drought that hit the agricultural sector, the planning agency said on Friday. The agency expects Moroccan gross domestic product (GDP) growth to slow further to 1.2 percent in the third quarter of the year. Growth for the $100 billion economy in the second quarter of 2015 stood at 4.1 percent, charts showed in a statement from the country's planning authority HCP. Compared to a year earlier, agricultural output fell 12.1 percent while HCP underlined a decline in the growth pattern of domestic consumption due to rising prices and unemployment. Domestic consumption has been a key engine of growth in the North African kingdom. "The rise of remittances from the Moroccans living abroad by 4.5 percent and consumer credits has helped to increase household spending by 2.4 percent, against 2.7 percent a year earlier," HCP's statement said. After growing by close to 5 percent in 2015, the finance ministry expects GDP growth to ease to less than 2 percent in 2016 after bad weather slashed agricultural output. The central bank says GDP growth would stand at 1.2 percent in 2016. (Reporting by Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by Gareth Jones)