AfricaPress-Tanzania: TRADITIONAL exports nearly doubled to 1,020.9 million US dollars in the year ending June from 518.0 million US dollars in corresponding period last year, on account of the increase in both volume and prices.
According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for July traditional exports accounted for 16.6 per cent of exports of goods and 10.4 per cent of exports of goods and Services.
The increase was manifested in exports of cashew nuts, cotton, cloves and sisal exports. Cashew nuts and sisal exports rose on account of increase in both volume and prices.
The export of cotton and cloves rose owing to increase in volume as a result of high production. On month to month, the value of traditional good exports declined to 15.6 million US dollars in June from 18.3 million US dollars in the corresponding month in 2019.
Non-traditional exports improved to 4,579.4 million US dollars in the year ending June compared with 3,662.7 million US dollars in the corresponding period in 2019.
The export value was 46.8 per cent of export of goods and services and 74.3 per cent of exports of goods with much of the increase driven by export of gold and horticultural products.
The export of gold increased by 48.5 per cent to 2,591.3 million US dollars in the year ending June and accounted for 56.6 per cent of value of nontraditional exports and 42.1 per cent of total exports of goods. The increase was largely on account of price effect.
The price of gold in the world market rose from 1,263.8 US dollars per troy ounce in June last year to 1,562.5 US dollars per troy ounce in June this year driven by rising preference of investors over gold as alternative financial assets in the wake of Covid-19.
On month-to-month, export of gold amounted to 247.8 million US dollars in June compared with 178.5 million US dollars in the corresponding month in 2019 on account of price effects.
The balance of payments improved significantly to a surplus of 744.2 million US dollars in the year ending June compared to a deficit of 990.7 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year.
This manifested in improvement in current account to a deficit of 381.9 million US dollars from a deficit of 2,029.8 million US dollars, mainly driven by an increase in export of gold and cashew nuts coupled with a decrease in imports due to subdued demand amidst Covid-19 related challenges.
The exports of goods and services amounted to 9,773.6 million US dollars in the year ending June compared with 8,716.1 million US dollars in the year ending June 2019.
The exports of goods rose to 6,160.4 million US dollars from 4,598.8 million US dollars and accounted for 63.0 per cent of total exports from 52.7 per cent.
In June 2020, the value of exports of goods and services amounted to 548.2 million US dollars lower compared with 757.6 million US dollars in June 2019.
The decline occurred in service receipts, which mainly comprises receipts from tourism. Foreign exchange earnings from tourism decreased due to travel restrictions and lockdown in source countries.
The service receipts amounted to 3,613.2 million US dollars in the year ending June lower than 4,117.3 million US dollars in June 2019.
The travel receipts, which mainly comprises of receipts from tourism, declined by 15.2 per cent to 2,126.1 million US dollars following a decrease in number of tourist arrivals due to Covid-19 pandemic. In June 2020, travel receipts dropped to 16.4 million US dollars compared with 209.0 million US dollars in June last year.
This was due to measures adopted by many countries to limit the spread of Covid-19, which included suspension of international flights and lockdowns.
Despite the low performance, the share of travel receipts in earnings from services remains dominant, accounting for 58.9 per cent.
