ZANZIBAR: ZANZIBAR’S current account surplus has increased by nearly 42 per cent yearon-year as of September, driven primarily by a rise in service receipts, particularly from tourism activities.
The latest Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for September showed that the current account surplus grew to 515.3 million US dollars from a surplus of 363.7 million US dollars in the period ending September last year.
The surplus was driven by exports of goods and services, which rose to 1.05 billion US dollars from 987.1 million US dollars recorded last September, thanks to a boost in service receipts.
The services receipts mainly from tourism rose by 7.9 per cent to 996.6 million US dollars following an increase in tourist arrivals, according to the report said.
During the period under review, clove exports decreased by 18.6 per cent in value terms, reaching 26.3 million US dollars, due to the cyclical nature of the crop compared to the same period last year.
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On month-to-month basis, exports of goods and services rose to 105.7 million US dollars in September compared to 88.4 million US dollars in September last year.
The BoT report said also that imports of goods and services, declined by 12.9 per cent to 553.9 million US dollars in the period ending September this year with a notable decrease recorded in capital, intermediate and consumer categories.
Capital goods, decreased to 39.9 million US dollars from 78.9 million US dollars since most of the infrastructure development projects are in the final stages.
The intermediate goods imports declined by 6.9 per cent to 363 million US dollars, largely due to a decrease in imports of industrial supplies, fuel and lubricant, and food and beverage for industrial uses.
According to the BoT report, consumer goods imports decreased by 4.6 per cent to 60.3 million US dollars mostly influenced by food and beverage mainly for household consumption and non-industrial transport equipment categories.
Month-to-month imports of goods and services amounted to 44 million US dollars in September compared to 67.4 million US dollars last September.
