ZANZIBAR: Fall in both volume and price of cloves contribute to the decline of Zanzibar exports by 23.6 per cent to 224.5 million US dollars in November last year from 294 million US dollars posted in the corresponding period in 2014.
According to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review the goods exports decreased by 72.3 per cent to 26.0 million US dollars. On the other hand, much of the decrease was in volume of cloves exports to 1,500 tonnes from 4,800 tonnes in the year under review due to cyclical nature of the crop.
Also, receipts from services were slightly lower at 198.5 million US dollars compared with 200.1 million US dollars in the year ending November 2014. Similarly, the previous month saw exports of goods and services declined by 21.1 percent to 233.4 million US dollars in the year ending October.
Exports fell by 63.6 percent to 34.5 million US dollars on account of declines in both volume and value of cloves exports. The current account widened significantly to a deficit of 203.4 million US dollars in the period in question from a deficit of 83.8 million US dollars in the corresponding period in 2014.
The value of imports of goods and services amounted to 445.8 million US dollars in November compared with 396.3 million US dollars recorded in the year ending November 2014. Goods import amounted to 300.1 million US dollars compared with 250.1 million US dollars recorded in the corresponding period last year, with a large part of the increase manifested in capital and intermediate goods imports.
