HARARE: Zimbabwe’s trade deficit continues to widen and reached 1.13 billion U.S. dollars in the four months to April 2015 after the country’s imports stood at 2.03 billion dollars against exports of 902.4 million dollars, latest figures from the statistical agency show.
For the month of April, the country’s trade deficit stood at 279.9 million dollars after exports amounted to 185.9 million dollars against imports of 465.8 million dollars, according to figures from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstats).
The 185.9 million U.S. dollars worth of exports was a decline from 188.7 million dollars recorded in the previous month due to the drop in mineral exports after platinum mining companies’ suspended exports following the introduction of the 15 percent levy on un-beneficiated minerals.
Zimbabwe continues to grapple with a liquidity squeeze and low capacity utilization in industries. This has resulted in the country’s heavy dependency on imports, mainly from neighboring South Africa.
Overall Zimbabwe continues to rely on imports from South Africa, which remains the largest destination for Zimbabwean exports.
Total trade between the two countries stood at 296.2 million U. S. dollars in April, falling 11 percent from 332.7 million U.S. dollars in the previous month.
