Tanzania Exports Support Economic Growth

Given that Tanzania exports continue to play an important role in the economic development of the East African country, visible steps have been taken over the last few years to develop some of the country’s sub-sectors including agro-processing, manufacturing and mineral activities in an effort to accommodate the growing demand for these exports from neighboring countries.

The three leading export commodities in the country according to the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) monthly economic review for 2011 are represented by gold, cloves and tobacco.

In addition to these leading exports, the country has also witnessed an increase in various additional exports to the neighboring countries such as cement, textile apparels, edible oil, plastic items, iron and steel products, wheat flour and paper goods.

“Viewed for the whole year through, the world market prices of all commodities recorded notable increases, in the year ending October 2011,” reads the bank report.

According to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, between November 2010 and November 2011, the goods and services exported from Tanzania increased by a total of 19.9 percent thereby reaching a total of USD 6.776 billion.

Through its recently issued Macroeconomic Indicators Report, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs went on to indicate that the country’s non-traditional exports also witnessed an increase of 21.3 percent to reach a total of USD 3.746 billion, but suffered a decrease in the export value of manufactured goods by a total of 5.3 percent.

Recent reports have also indicated that the overall value of the export of goods and services from Tanzania increased from USD 5,532 million in October 2010 to USD 6,733.8 million by the end of October 2011.

In addition to the increase in the overall value of Tanzania exports, the value of the country’s services receipt also increased during the same time frame from USD 2,024.7 million to USD 2,365.1 million with the majority of the success being attributed to receipts from travel and transportation.

To this end, results from the 2010 International Visitors’ Exit Survey Report indicated that Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States represent the three major tourist source markets for Tanzania.

In addition, according to the survey results both the average length of stay and the average expenditure per person per night also increased for many of the country’s international visitors, a trend which helped improve the overall earnings for the Tanzania tourism sector.

Finally, according to a report by the Tanzania Daily News, the overall success in the country’s transportation receipts has been attributed to the increase in the amount of transit goods that are being sent to and from neighboring landlocked countries.