Tanzania Exports Up by 25% in YE May 2022, Tourist Arrivals Up by 81%

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Monthly Economic Review-June 2022 reveals that the country’s exports of goods and services increased to USD 10,826.9 million during the year ending May 2022.

This is an increase of+25.6% from USD 8,617.6 million in the corresponding period in 2021.

The improvement in exports was driven by non-traditional exports and services receipts.

The exports of goods rose by 12.4% to USD 7,105.2 million, with both traditional and non-traditional exports rising by 24.7% and 10% respectively.

A large increase in non-traditional exports emanated from textiles, paper products, iron and steel, horticultural products, and cereals particularly, maize and rice.

Gold exports, which account for about 37.9% of goods exports, declined to USD 2,695.1 million from USD 3,027.4 million.

Exports of traditional goods amounted to USD 721 million compared to USD 578.3 million, on account of improvement in export volume of cloves, cotton and tobacco.

The rise was also reinforced by high prices in the world market. On a monthly basis, traditional exports doubled to USD 33.2 million from USD 15.9 million in May 2021, while nontraditional exports amounted to USD 518 million compared to USD 467.9 million.

Service Receipts

Services receipts amounted to USD 3,721.8 million in the year ending May 2022 compared with USD 2,298.3 million in the year ending May 2021, mainly supported by receipts from travel (which is mainly tourism) and transport.

Travel receipts rose to USD 1,616.5 million from USD 795 million, driven by a rise in the number of tourists by 81% to 1,063,470.

The increase in travel earnings signals a steady recovery in the tourism sector, although still threatened by geo-political tensions in Eastern Europe.

On a monthly basis, services receipts were USD 339.1 million compared to USD 205.2 million in May 2021.