Goods, services imports up 3 per cent

DAR ES SALAAM: IMPORTS of goods and services increased by 2.7 per cent, reaching 16.82 billion US dollars by November last year, driven by industrial supplies and white petroleum products.

The latest Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for December reveals that imports of goods made up 85 per cent of the total import bill, with industrial supplies and refined white petroleum products being the largest imports.

The value of imports of refined white petroleum products declined by 7 per cent to 2.57 billion US dollars owing to price effects.

On month-on-month, BoT report said goods imports increased to 1.35 billion US dollars in November last year from 1.25 billion US dollars in November 2023.

Services payments increased to 2.41 billion US dollars in the period ending November last year from 2.38 billion US dollars in 2023. Most of the increase was observed in freight payments.

On a monthly basis, service payments amounted to 236.3 million US dollars in November last year up, from 209.7 million US dollars in November 2023.

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The primary income account recorded a deficit of 1.85 billion US dollars compared to 1.49 billion US dollars in the same period previous year, owing to increased foreign obligation.

On month-on-month basis, the deficit rose by more than half to 207.3 million US dollars in November last year compared to the corresponding period in November 2023.

The surplus in secondary income account declined by 12.3 per cent to 540 million US dollars in the period ending November last year, owing to a decrease in personal transfers.

On a monthly basis, the surplus amounted to 36.4 million US dollars in November last year compared with 31 million US dollars in November 2023.