Zanzibar sees drop in exports

President of Zanzibar, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein

Zanzibar's current account registered a deficit in the period ending October last year largely due to the increase in the value of imports compared to exports.

According the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for November last year,  imports exceeded exports by 64 million US dollars (about 102n/-). 

The report said that the current account registered a deficit of 30 million US dollars (about 48bn/-) in October last year compared to a surplus of 1.1 million US dollars (about 1.76bn/-) recorded in the previous period.

“The value of oil imports that jumped to 61.7 million US dollars (about 98.7bn/-) from 40.6 million US dollars (about 64bn/-) contributed to widening the gap with exports,” stated the bank report. 

For example, import of goods and services rose to 219.1 million US dollars (about 350bn/-) from 156.5 million US (about 250bn/-) registered in the corresponding period in 2010.

However, compared with the corresponding period in 2010, the year ending October last year saw the value of exports surging by 27.7 per cent due to rise in the average of clove prices. 

Export of goods and services was 155.1 million US dollars (about 248bn/-) compared to 121.4 million dollars (about 194bn/-) registered in the year ending October 2010. 

The development was largely driven by the increase in exports of cloves, and services receipts from the hospitality industry. The value of clove exports surged on account of rise in average price to 12,186.1 US dollars per ton (about 19.5m/-) in October last year from 3,609.1 dollars per ton (about 5.7m/-) recorded in the preceding period. 

The report said that the increase in price which is 88.5 per cent was on account of decline in production in major clove exporters, notably Indonesia. 

Also tourist arrivals contributed greatly to increased value of exports in the period under review.  According to the 2010 International Visitors’ Exit Survey Report, Italy, United Kingdom, and the US were identified as the major tourist source markets for Tanzania.  

The survey observed that the number of international visitors, the average length of stay and average expenditure per person per night increased, contributing to the improvement in tourism earnings.   

Sources Daily News www.dailynews.co.tz: reported by Sebastian Mrindoko

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