Tanzania oil import bill drops by 25 pc

The country’s total import bill has gone down by 2.6 per cent, thanks to oil price fall in the world market.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said for the year ending July, imports of goods and services declined by 2.6 per cent to 13.56 billion US dollars compared to the same period last year.

“The decline in goods import was on account of oil imports, which decreased by around 25 per cent following the fall in oil prices in the world market,” BoT’s monthly economic review said.

The oil bill dropped to 3.11 billion US dollars at the end of July compared to 4.16 billion US dollars of the same period last year. 

The price decline of crude oil and white petroleum products, in July, was mostly due to increased global supply coupled with low demand in China, BoT said.

Also, prices of crude oil and white petroleum products declined owing to increased production from non-OPEC, particularly the US, and OPEC’s decision to maintain production levels unchanged despite the sharp decline in oil prices Crude oil prices at the world market, according to Bloomberg Business, have not closed above 50 US dollars a barrel since July 21.

Tanzania’s economy is estimated to be consuming around three million litres of petrol per day, five million litres of diesel and 300,000 litres of kerosene.

The oil bill envisages dropping further as per Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November dipped seven cents to stand at 49.18 US dollars a barrel. However, Tanzania imported refined products this explains some variations in pricing.

Source: Daily News, reported from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Share on Google Plus

About Unknown

This is a short description in the author block about the author. You edit it by entering text in the "Biographical Info" field in the user admin panel.