Industrial sector propels Zanzibar’s real income to 3.5tri/-

EXPANSIVE industrial sector at an average of 9.3 per cent helped to increase Zanzibar’s real income (Gross Domestic Product – GDP at constant prices) to 3,498bn/- in 2022 from 3,275bn/- in 2021.

With the August 2022 National Population and Housing Census estimating Zanzibaris at 1,889,773, the isles per capita income grew to 1,235 US dollars (over 2,860,000/-) from 1,171 US dollars (about 2,700,000/-) in 2021, the Minister of State, President’s Office, Finance and Planning Dr Saada Mkuya Salum told the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

Minister Mkuya said Zanzibar recorded impressive economic growth despite general slowdowns globally due to Russia-Ukraine war, attributing the islands’ positive trend to prudent measures and guidance of Zanzibar President, Dr Hussein Mwinyi to intensify the economy through the Blue Economy Policy.

Moving the 2022 State of the Economy and Implementation of the 2022/2023 Development Plan, Dr Mkuya said the country’s GDP at market prices grew to 5,400bn/- last year from the previous year’s 4,633bn/-.

She said industrial sector growth almost doubled to 9.3 per cent in 2022 from 5.1 per cent in 2021, thanks to impressive growth in various sub-sectors. The said sub-sectors with their respective growth in brackets are electricity and gas (22.3 per cent); construction (10.2 per cent); quarrying and sand mining (9.1 per cent); and industrial production (8.1 per cent).

Increased tourist arrivals from 394,185 visitors in 2021 to 548,503 also boosted the country’s income during the period under review, Dr Mkuya told the House.

The minister further attributed the GDP increase to rising agricultural exports, saying the country earned 118bn/- from clove sales in 2022 up from 115bn/- in 2021 while seaweed revenues increased from 11.9bn/- to 16bn/- over the period under review.

However, the country inflation skyrocketed to 5.1 per cent in 2022 from an average of 1.7 per cent in 2021 due to rising prices in food and non-food items, said Minister Mkuya, adding that food prices increased at an average of six per cent in 2022 from the previous year’s average of 0.6 per cent. Prices of non-food items on the other hand increased at the rate of 4.5 per cent in 2022 from 2.5 per cent in 2021.

But Dr Mkuya said had it not been the government’s interventions, the country could have experienced higher inflation than recorded. The government had to forfeit some levies and inject 21.5bn/- subsidies in petroleum products to suppress prices in the domestic market.

Regarding employment, which has huge contribution in the production sector, the minister said there were 68,632 new jobs in the 2021/2022 fiscal year, a three per cent increase from 66,656 jobs in 2020/2021.

Government jobs were 37,189 while public corporations and private sector contributed 6,887 and 24,556 jobs, respectively.