TANZANIA: THE Bank of Tanzania (BoT) has said exports increased by 13.6 per cent in March, thanks to gold, tourism, transport and traditional goods growth.
The goods and services export thus reached 14.301 billion US dollars recorded in the corresponding period last year.
“The main drivers of growth include gold, receipts from travel (tourism) and transport, as well as traditional goods,” BoT said in its latest monthly economic review report.
Traditional goods exports amounted to 1.031billion US dollars, an increase from 758.4 million US dollars in the previous year.
“A significant increase was registered in exports of tobacco, coffee, cotton and cashew nuts owing to both price and volume effects,” the report said.
Exports of non-traditional goods also increased by 1.3 percent to 6.286 billion US dollars, supported by gold, horticultural products and oil seeds.
Gold exports were 3.106 billion US dollars, accounting for almost half of all non-traditional exports.
“The increase in horticultural product exports was largely on account of a rise in vegetable exports, particularly melons and chickpeas,” BoT said.
Additionally, service receipts amounted to 6.562 billion US dollars a year up from 5.221 billion US dollars in the previous year, mostly driven by travel (tourism) and transportation receipts.
“The increase in travel receipts reflects the recovery of the tourism sector, consistent with developments in the global tourism industry,” the report said.
Tourist arrivals recorded an annual increase of 21.9 per cent to 1,919,447. On a monthly basis, service receipts reached 542.3 million US dollars in March compared to 481 million US dollars last March.
Meanwhile, goods and services imports declined to 16.033 billion US dollars in March from 17.124 billion in the corresponding year.
“Much of the decline emanated from refined white petroleum products, fertilizers and industrial supplies,” the report showed.
On a monthly basis, goods imports were 1.148 billion US dollars in March compared to 1.170 billion US dollars in March.
Services payments also declined to 2.265 billion US dollars compared to 2.578 billion US dollars last March.
“The outturn was mostly due to a decline in freight payments following a fall in imports,” the BoT report said.
