Morocco's economic growth slowed to a real, seasonally adjusted 2.8 percent year-on-year in the last quarter of 2012, from 2.9 percent in the third quarter, the country's planning agency said.

The economy was hit by a 9.2 percent drop in agricultural production during the past quarter, as the country suffered a drought.

However, GDP growth is expected to pick up to about 4.5 percent in the first quarter of this year because of a budding pick-up in external demand and the start of a recovery in the agricultural sector, the agency said late on Tuesday.

Agricultural production is forecast to rise 5.9 percent in the first quarter as rainfall is improving. – Reuters