TANZANIA: Exports of goods and services amounted to 12,767.6 million US dollars in the year ending June higher than 11,004.1 million US dollars in the previous year, driven by non-traditional exports, in particular minerals and services receipts.
According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for July, the export of non-traditional goods recorded an annual growth of 4.2 per cent largely driven by minerals, particularly gold, coal and diamonds.
Coal exports increased to 229 million US dollars in the year to June from 57.6 million US dollars in the previous year, due to growing demand in the wake of supply shortages following the war in Ukraine.
The exports of diamonds almost doubled to 46.9 million US dollars from 29.6 million US dollars in the year ending June last year largely due to price effects.
As for gold exports, the increase was largely on account of volume effects.
Manufactured goods exports also recorded an annual growth of 6.1 per cent to 1,402.2 million US dollars largely driven by fertilisers and cement.
Exports of traditional goods slightly increased to 752.3 million US dollars from 737.8 million US dollars with the increase mostly manifested in exports of tobacco, cotton and coffee.
On monthly basis, traditional goods worth 21.5 million US dollars were exported in June this year compared with 30.9 million US dollars in the similar month last year while non-traditional exports increased to 584 million US dollars up from 545.3 million US dollars.
Services receipts amounted to 5,398 million US dollars in the year ending June higher than 3,906.7 million US dollars in the period ending June last year driven by travel (tourism) and transportation receipts.
On monthly basis, services receipts were 513.7 million US dollars in June this year compared with 390.5 million US dollars in June last year.
The cumulative effects of the shocks, particularly the war in Ukraine and monetary policy tightening in advanced economies, continued to depress the external sector of the economy.
The current account recorded a deficit of 4,869.3 million US dollars in the year ending June compared with 3,398.1 million US dollars in the year ending June 2022 driven by high import bills.
It is anticipated that the current account balance will improve in the subsequent months due to declining pressure from commodity prices along with the increase in receipts from tourism-related activities.
Meanwhile, the balance of payments improved to a surplus of 114 million US dollars from a deficit of 1.1 million US dollars in the year to June last year.
