Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE import of goods and services decreased to 9,302.8 million US dollars from 10,484.1 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year driven by a decline in import value of oil, transport equipment and building and construction materials.
The value of goods imports declined to 8,109.3 million US dollars during the year under review compared to 8,754.0 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year with the larger decrease registered in oil, building and construction.
The value of oil imports declined by 22.4 per cent to 1,353.3 million US dollars mainly driven by a fall in oil prices in the global market and accounted for 16.7 per cent of goods imports. Every month, however, the goods import bill increased to 818.3 million US dollars from 562.5 million US dollars recorded in April last year, explained by an increase in imports of oil.
The services payment were 1,193.5 million US dollars in the year ending April, lower than 1,730.2 million US dollars recorded in the corresponding period last year largely attributed to a decrease in travel payments, related to containment measures by most countries to contain the spread of Covid-19. Every month, services payments increased by 22.7 per cent to 109.1million US dollars in April from 88.9 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year.
Primary income account narrowed to a deficit of 829.9 million US dollars in the year ending April from 951.5 million US dollars recorded in the year ending April last year largely explained by a decrease in payments abroad. On monthly basis, the deficit in the primary income account widened to 57.5 million US dollars in April 2021 compared with 49.3 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year.
Secondary income account registered a surplus of 411.1 million US dollars during the year ending April lower than a surplus of 434.7 million US dollars recorded in the corresponding period last year on account of low inflows.
On monthly basis, the secondary income account recorded a surplus of 21.5 million US dollars compared with a surplus of 16.3 million US dollars in April last year.
