Tanzania Exports Up by 20% in YE March 2022, Tourist Arrivals Almost Doubled

The Bank of Tanzania (BOT) Monthly Economic Review-April 2022 reveals that the country’s exports of goods and services increased to USD 10,214.6 million during the year ending March 2022.

This is +20.14% higher than USD 8,502.1 million in a similar period in 2021.

Improvement in exports was noted in both traditional and non-traditional exports in addition to travel receipts.

Exports of goods rose by 7.8% to USD 6,882.2 million, with traditional and nontraditional exports growing by 17.9% and 5.7%, respectively.

A significant portion of the increase in exports is attributed to tobacco, cosmetics, cement, plastic items, horticultural products and cereals, particularly, rice and maize.

Gold exports, which accounted for 38.9% of goods exports, declined by 11.5% to USD 2,678.3 million mainly due to a slowdown in production that outweighed the rise in price.

On a monthly basis, traditional exports rose to USD 32.8 million from USD 22.4 million in March 2021, thanks to an increase in the export values of coffee, cotton, cloves, and tobacco.

The significant increase in the value of cloves exports is explained by stockpiling of cloves that occurred when clove prices were lower.

On a month-to-month basis, the export value of non-traditional goods was USD 513.6 million, slightly lower than USD 524.2 million in March 2021.

Service Receipts

Services receipts increased to USD 3,348.5 million in March 2022 from USD 2,116.1 million in the year ending March 2021, mainly from travel and transport receipts.

Travel receipts rose to USD 1,490.2 million, from USD 678.6 million, consistent with a rise in the number of international tourist arrivals from 515,529 to 980,415.

Monthly services receipts were USD 308.1 million, compared to USD 240.4 million in March 2021, with travel receipts accounting for the bulk of the increase.