Bureau: Economy slows in second quarter of 2014

Dar es Salaam. Growth of the national economy slowed slightly in the second quarter of this year against the previous performance and compared with the expansion of the economy during the same period in 2013, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said yesterday.

   
                                       

 The director of economic statistics at the National Bureau of Statistics, Mr Morrice Oyuke, briefs journalists yesterday in Dar es Salaam on the national economic growth in the second quarter of this year. With him is statistics department official Adela Ndesangia. PHOTO | VENANCE NESTORY 

Figures by the bureau yesterday showed that the economy grew by 6.9 per cent between March and June 2014. During the same period last year, the economic expansion was 7.6 per cent and the growth in the first three months of 2014 was 7.4 per cent.

The economy is expected to grow by 7.4 per cent this year. In 2013, it grew by seven per cent.

Announcing the new data, the bureau’s director of economic statistics, Mr Morrice Oyuke, said national output was worth Sh5.4 trillion at the end of the second quarter. The gross domestic product (GDP) value during the same quarter last year was Sh5.05 trillion.

Mr  Oyuke also said that Tanzania was finalising the revision of GDP data to be announced at the end of October. Many African countries are currently rebasing their GDP data to incorporate changes that have occurred in national economies.

The latest has been Kenya, which early this week said it had graduated to a middle income economy status. Nigeria did the same late last year with the rebasing making it the biggest economy in Africa. Nigeria also became Africa’s biggest economy last year after rebasing its data.

Tanzania’s sectors that recorded impressive growth during the quarter under review included agriculture. Farming, which accounts for about 24 per cent of GDP, grew by 5.4 per cent compared with 4.9 per cent in a similar quarter of 2013, Mr Oyuke said.

The other has been mining, which recorded growth of three per cent compared with 6.2 per cent during  a similar period in 2013. “Growth of the mining sector is due to increased production of both diamonds and tanzanite,” said Mr Oyuke. Mining contributes about three per cent to GDP but the figure could rise in the near future, according to the Tanzania Chamber of Minerals and Energy. Gold is the second biggest foreign exchange earner after tourism in East Africa’s second biggest economy.

In the year ending July 2014, gold exports dropped to $1.68 billion from $1.84 billion recorded a year before, according the Bank of Tanzania. At the same time, tourism earnings increased to $1.99 billion from $1.78 billion, August economic review shows.

In the second quarter of this year, manufacturing grew by seven per cent compared with 6.6 per cent that was recorded in a similar quarter of last year.

Source: The citizen