Africa-Press – Tanzania. ZANZIBAR: ZANZIBAR’S current account surplus has grown by 12.4 per cent for the year ending March thanks to largely increased exports of goods and services.
The Bank of Tanzania’s latest Monthly Economic Review showed that the isles’ current account surplus grew to 441.4 million US dollars for the year ending March from a surplus of 392.7 million US dollars in a similar period last year.
“This development was largely associated with increased exports of goods and services,” the report said.
Exports of goods and services reached 1.023 billion US dollars at the end of March, up from 968.0 million US dollars last March.
Services receipt, in particular tourism, rose by 6.1 per cent to 958.0 million US dollars following an increase in tourist arrivals.
On the other hand, cloves export in value terms declined by 33.8 per cent to 28.4 million US dollars from the corresponding last year, due to the cyclical nature of the crop. On a month-to-month basis, export of goods and services rose to 103.7 million US dollars compared to 68.2 million US dollars in a similar period last year, largely due to an increase in tourism earnings.
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Additionally, import of goods and services rose to 594.9 million US dollars from 582.8 million in the year ending last March.
“The increase was notable in capital goods,” the monthly economic review report showed. Capital goods increased to 72.4 million US dollars from 44.8 million US dollars.
“[Capital goods increase] is largely associated with the ongoing infrastructure projects,” BoT said in the report.
Also, intermediate goods import declined by 5.2 per cent to 367.4 million US dollars, mainly due to a decrease in imports of industrial supplies, fuel and lubricants.
Consumer goods imports decreased by 0.3 per cent to 57.5 million US dollars, with the decline notable in food and beverages and non-industrial transport equipment. On a month-to-month basis, imports of goods—freight on board—(FoB) and services amounted to 35.6 million US dollars compared to 53.9 million US dollars last March.
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