By Souhail Karam JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Morocco's economy is likely to grow by 6.2 percent this year, falling short of a previous forecast of 6.8 percent, Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar said on Tuesday. "It still remains quite an achievement considering the circumstances," he told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a meeting of the Islamic Development Bank. Government statistics show that Morocco's economy grew by 2.2 percent in 2007. Mezouar also forecast annual inflation in the Kingdom, which imports all its petroleum, to be 2.7-2.9 percent this year, up from an initial projection of 2 percent. A rise in tax receipts would however offset the impact on the country's finances of both the surge in the energy import bill and a public wage hike agreed with unions earlier this year, he said. "Our initial target for a budget deficit of 3 percent will be maintained ... Receipts of value-added tax and corporate tax are up 20 percent ... which will generate a surplus in our receipts of 15 billion dirhams," Mezouar said. He said Morocco had no plans to enter the international debt market this year and still expected to meet its target budget deficit of 3 percent. "We are in a situation which will allow us to fulfil all our commitments in terms of both investment and financing. Resorting to international markets is not called for," Mezouar added. Morocco received $800 million in grants last month from fellow Muslim allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to help it cushion the oil price spike. Morocco expects to import 3-5 million tonnes of wheat in year to June 2009 due to a shortfall in local production. "I think we might harvest between 5.1 and 5.5 million tonnes this year ... that's an average harvest. We will need to import something between 3 and 5 million tonnes next year," Mezouar said. This year's harvest will be more than double the figure for 2007 of 2.35 million tonnes, but below a 10-year average of 5.15 million, according to agriculture ministry figures issued last month. Last month's estimate was at the bottom of a range given by the head of Morocco's main farming group COMADER in March of 5-6 million tonnes. Morocco has imported 6.1 million tonnes of grains to make up for last year's poor harvest, with more than half the shipments in soft wheat, according to official figures. The economic slowdown in the European Union has not had an impact on Moroccan exports which rose 13 percent in the first five months of the year, against budget projections of 7.5 percent for 2008, he said. The European Union accounts for about two-thirds the country's trade volumes. With poverty and unemployment rife, the government is trying to create more jobs by expanding existing industries such as tourism and textiles while venturing into new areas like back-office outsourcing. | 
