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Zanzibar’s current account deficit narrows buoyed by spike in exports

Zanzibar’s current account deficit narrows buoyed by spike in exports

A growth in exports and a decline in imports has narrowed Zanzibar’s current account deficit the central Bank has said in its latest monthly economic review.

According to the regulator, the Isles current account registered a deficit of $6.4 million in September, this year, compared to $182.4 million recorded in the corresponding period in 2015 mainly due to an increase in exports by 49.4 per cent and imports decline by 26.4 per cent.

The review shows that the value of exports of goods and services during September 2016 rose to $240.5 million from $161 million recorded in a similar period in the year 2015.

Specifically, exports of goods hiked to $74.7 million from $29.9 million mostly on account of increased volume of cloves exports. The value of cloves export increased to $49.5 million from $21.3 million as export volume surged from 2,000 tonnes to 6,200 tonnes owing to cyclical nature of the crop.

Services account balance recorded a surplus of $121.7 million in the year ending September 2016, significantly higher than a surplus of $76.5 million recorded during the corresponding period last year. The improvement was primarily on account of increased receipts from travel services which mainly comprised of tourism related activities.

The annual import bill for both goods and services fell to $263.4 million in September 2016 from $357.8 million in the corresponding period in 2015. Goods imports amounted to $219.4 million down from $303.3 million. Almost all categories of imports declined.

www.bot.go.tz

 

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