DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 8 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — THE export of goods and services in Tanzania rose to 17.09 billion US dollars (about 41.8tri/-) in the year ending September this year, up from 14.9 billion US dollars (about 36.4tri/-) in the same period last year.
The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) revealed this in its Monthly Economic Review for October, published last month on its website.
According to BoT, the growth was largely driven by increased service receipts and stronger performance in goods exports.
“Goods exports amounted to 10.1 billion US dollars (about 24.7tri/-), up from 8.2 billion US dollars (about 20tri/-) recorded in the previous year,” the report said.
The rise was supported by higher exports of gold, manufactured goods, cashew nuts, cereals, and tobacco.
Gold exports surged 35.8 per cent to 4.43 billion US dollars (about 105.1tri/-), compared to 3.3 billion US dollars (about 8tri/-), mainly due to elevated global gold prices.
Traditional exports also improved to 1.5 billion (about 3.6tri/-), a 38.3 per cent increase.
Service receipts amounted to 6.9 billion US dollars (about 16.8tri/-), up from 6.7 billion US dollars (about 16.3tri/-) in the same period last year.
BoT said the increase was mainly driven by earnings from travel and transport services, reflecting the continued strong performance of the tourism sector, with tourist arrivals rising 11.9 per cent to 2,315,637.
Transport earnings, primarily from freight, reached 2.5 billion US dollars (about 6tri/-), compared to 2.3 billion US dollars (about 5.6tri/-) the previous year.
On a monthly basis, service receipts stood at 576 million US dollars (about 1.4bn/-) in September this year, slightly down from 584.7 million US dollars (about 1.42bn/-) in September last year.
Regarding imports, BoT reported that goods and services imports rose to 17.72 billion US dollars (about 43.1tri/-), up from 16.75 billion US dollars (about 40.7tri/-) in the same period last year.
Significant increases were seen in industrial supplies, transport equipment, machinery, and mechanical appliances.
However, oil imports, which account for 16.8 per cent of total imports, declined to 25 billion US dollars (about 60.8tri/-) mainly due to price effects.
On a monthly basis, goods import in September this year amounted to 1.5 billion US dollars (about 3.65tri/-), higher than 1.25 billion US dollars (about 3.04tri/-) in September last year. — NNN-DAILYNEWS