Services receipts drive up Z’bar current account surplus

ZANZIBAR: THE Zanzibar current account surplus has rose by 25.8 per cent to 896.6 million US dollars in the year ending January, up from the corresponding period last year, largely driven by increased services receipts.

According to the latest Bank of Tanzania Monthly Economic Review, the growth was primarily supported by a stronger performance in tourism-related activities, indicating a sustained recovery in the services sector and its growing contribution to external sector stability.

Exports of goods and services grew by 26.9 per cent to 1.63 billion US dollars in the year ending January, compared with the corresponding period last year, signalling a notable strengthening in external demand.

The increase suggests improved competitiveness and higher earnings from both traditional and non-traditional exports, reinforcing the external sector’s role in supporting overall economic growth and foreign exchange inflows.

Services receipts remained the dominant component of exports of goods and services, accounting for about 94 per cent of total earnings.

This strong contribution was largely underpinned by a rise in international tourist arrivals to 933,314, up from 747,356 in the corresponding period last year, highlighting the sector’s central role in driving export growth and foreign exchange inflows.

The increase in goods exports was mainly attributable to a rise of traditional exports, notably cloves, reflecting seasonal and cyclical nature of crop production.

On a month-on-month comparative basis, exports of goods and services rose to 173.6 million US dollars in January, up from 141 million US dollars recorded in January last year.

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This increase points to a sustained improvement in external demand and export performance, reinforcing the upward trajectory observed in the broader annual trend.

Imports of goods and services increased by 27.8 per cent to 757.9 million US dollars in the year ending January, compared with the corresponding period last year.

The expansion was largely driven by higher imports of capital and consumer goods, suggesting strengthening domestic demand and ongoing investment activity, with potential implications for future productive capacity and economic growth.

Imports of capital goods surged by 89.4 per cent to 116.3 million US dollars primarily driven by increased purchases of industrial transport equipment.

This sharp rise points to intensified investment in productive infrastructure and logistics capacity signalling efforts to enhance industrial efficiency and support medium-to longterm economic growth.

Meanwhile, the increase in imports of consumer goods was mainly attributed to elevated purchases of non-industrial transport equipment and other consumer goods, including insecticides, rodenticides and related products.

On a month-on-month comparative basis, imports of goods and services rose to 84 million US dollars in January, up from 44.7 million US dollars recorded in January last year.