Morocco's economy will post a 3.9 percent growth in the first quarter of 2017, compared to only 1.7 percent a year earlier, the official High Commission for Planning (HCP) said on Thursday.

In a note on the prospects of the Moroccan economy, HCP linked this performance to the expected rise of 11.1 percent in agricultural and a 3.2 percent increase in the profits of several exporting industries, including the automotive, electronics and textile industries.

After a slow growth in the first half of 2016, Morocco's economy posted a 1.2 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2016 after a 0.8 percent in the previous quarter, HCP noted.

The Moroccan economy has been hit hard by a drought in the fall of 2015, which compromised the 2016 cereal production.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2017)