Zanzibar’s current account deficit widened to $366.7 million last year as compared to $235.7 million registered in 2021, largely associated with increase in imports bill according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) Monthly Economic Review for January 2023.
According to the report, the import bill rose to $558.6 million in 2022, from $432.7 million in 2021, owing to increase in goods imports.
“Value of goods imports increased by 40.8 percent to $466.7 million, driven by intermediate and consumer goods. The increase in intermediate goods import was largely driven by imports of iron, steel, plastic articles, refined white petroleum and wheat grain,” the report said.
The increase in consumer goods imports was mostly influenced by food and beverages, soap and detergent and textile apparels.
“On monthly basis, goods imports amounted to USD 36.4 million, compared with $35.2 million in December 2021,” according to the report.
Meanwhile, the value of exports of goods and services, increased to $185.5 million in 2022, from $183.7 million recorded in the previous year, driven by cloves, seaweeds and manufactured goods exports. Cloves export rose to $51.6 million, from $50.4 million in 2021 on account of volume increase largely explained by cyclical nature of the crop.
Seaweeds exports also increased, driven by both price and volume while manufactured goods exports rose to $10.6 million from $7.8 million.
“On monthly basis, goods worth $4.2 million were exported in December 2022, higher than 0.5 million in December 2021,” the report said.
Service receipts on the other hand decreased to $109 million in 2022 from $113.5 million recorded the previous year.
