Z’bar capital account continues to improve

DAILY NEWS Reporter

ZANZIBAR current account has registered surplus thanks to a fall in imports and increased inflow of official project grants.

According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review, Zanzibar current account improved to a surplus of 51.4 million US dollars in February 2017 from 76 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year.

Export of goods declined to 35.9 million US dollars from 62.0 million US dollars largely driven by changes in both price and volume. Cloves exports, which account for the largest share of exports, declined to 21.4 million US dollars from 41.1 million US dollars.

Its price per tonne fell to 7,825.6 US dollars from 8,078.2 US dollars. Export value of goods and services was 183.2 million US dollars in the month under review compared with 186.7 million US dollars registered in the corresponding period in 2016.

During the period under review, services account recorded a surplus of 98.9 million US dollars, up from a surplus of 70 million US dollars in February 2016 with the improvement largely accounted for by receipts from tourism.

The value of imports of capital goods fell in February 2017 to 39.8 million US dollars from 114.9 million US dollars in the corresponding period last year. Noteworthy, total goods imported at free on board basis declined by 49.8 per cent to 112.3 million US dollars. The goods imported were 70 per cent of total goods and services imports.