Z’bar current account deficit widens

Daily News reporter

ZANZIBAR: ZANZIBAR’S current account deficit widened to 416.4 million US dollars during the period ending January this year up from 362.5 million US dollars in the

corresponding period last year due to an increase in goods and services imports.

According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for February, the increase in imports of goods and services was coupled with the decrease in goods exports.

The government continued to implement the budget based on budget estimates for the month, priorities and available resources.

In January this year, the government spent 201.9 billion US dollars of which recurrent expenditure was 122.2 billion US dollars and spending on development projects was 79.7 billion US dollars.

Domestic resources accounted for 80.8 per cent of investment projects spending, and the balance was from foreign sources.

The export of goods and services amounted to 198.0 million US dollars in the year ending January compared to 194.3 million US dollars recorded in the corresponding period last year.

Services receipts, particularly from tourism-related activities rose by 15.0 per cent to 143.6 million US dollars following an increase in tourist arrivals.

Conversely, receipts from goods exports declined by 21.7 per cent. Cloves exports in value terms declined by 39 per cent to 26.6 million US dollars from the corresponding period last year due to the cyclical nature of the crop.

On a monthly basis, the exports of goods and services rose to 23.4 million US dollars in January this year compared to 18.5 million US dollars in January last year.

The imports of goods and services were 626.6 million US dollars higher than 555.6 million US dollars recorded in the period ending January last year. The increase in goods imports was driven by capital and intermediate categories.

Specifically, capital goods imports were 77.9 million US dollars higher than 36.9 million US dollars in the corresponding period of the preceding year largely associated with ongoing infrastructure projects.

The intermediate goods imports rose by 3.4 per cent to 390.5 million US dollars largely due to an increase in imports of fuel and lubricants (refined white petroleum), food and beverage for industrial and motorcars for households.

Consumer goods imports declined marginally by 3.4 per cent to 56.2 million US dollars mostly influenced by food and beverages for households’ consumption, non-industrial transport equipment and other consumer goods categories.

Month-to-month imports of goods free on board and services amounted to 50.8 million US dollars in January this year compared to 46.3 million US dollars in January last year.