Zimbabwe’s trade deficit for the ten months to November widened to 53,69% to $2,13 billion from the $1,3 billion achieved in 2017 after the country saw an increase in the importation of fuel, crude oil and wheat.
According to the latest figures from Zimstat – on a like-for-like basis, imports in the ten months to November amounted to $5,81 billion, an increase of 27% on the $4,57 billion achieved in 2017 over the same ten-month period. Zimstat is still to update the figures for December 2017 and January 2018 after a malfunction in Zimra’s Ascyuda system. Exports rose but by a slower margin of 15,5% to $3,68 billion from $3,18 billion achieved in the same period in 2017.
Diesel imports rose 29% to $943,74 million from $730,46 million achieved in 2017 while imports for unleaded petrol were up 7,70% to $351,09 million from the $326,75 million achieved in the comparable year ago period. According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the spike in demand for fuel to the growing vehicle population in the country, which has jumped 50% to 1,8 million from 2017. Governor John Mangudya said that the bulk of the new vehicles imported this year were government vehicles. He also attributes the increase in diesel consumption to increased industrial and gold mining activity, where the fuel is a major component in the functioning of plant and equipment. However, government is more prone to blaming truck drivers who took advantage of the arbitrage opportunities on the exchange rate, for the spike in demand. Crude soya oil imports were at $109 million.
Flue cured tobacco exports in the ten-month period rose 7% to $722,6 million over 2017. In terms of minerals, nickel exports were at $358,2 million, granite $23,08 million, industrial diamonds $72,96 million, while platinum exports were lower at $39,03 million from $42 million in 2017. Gold is the top forex earner for the country after exports amounted to $1,07 billion from $829,3 billion, an increase of 29,88%.
For November 2018 export receipts amounted to $472 million which was a 5% rise from $449 million in the prior month. The total import bill surged by 6% to reach $629 million from $592 million. The monthly trade deficit widened to $157million from $144 million recorded in October, which was an increase of 9%. The leading imports were diesel and unleaded petrol with $126,8 million and $58,4 million respectively.
The total imported bill (Feb-Nov 2018) for both diesel and petrol reached $1,4 billion, a 40% increase from $1 billion recorded in same period last year. The next biggest import is wheat amounting to $10,4 million. Rice and aviation complete the top 5 imports at $10,2 million and $8,8 million respectively. For November, flue-cured tobacco overtook gold as the country’s top export with $230,6million.
Zimbabwe’s tobacco output for the 2017/18 cropping season hit a record high of 252.5 million kilograms, surpassing the country’s peak production of 236 million kg in 2000. The country’s second top export for the month of November is gold which amounted to $47 million which was a 35% increase from the prior month. Total gold deliveries for 2018 reached 33,2 tonnes with small scale miners accounting for 65% of the total. Nickel matte and Nickel recorded $43,4million and $36,4 million respectively. Ferro-chromed sealed the top 5 exported products list with $18,2 million. South Africa remains the country’s top exports destination after accounting for $317,4 million followed by Mozambique with $46,6 million. United Arab Emirates and Zambia are next with $35,8 million and $7,9 million. For the month of November most of Zimbabwe’s imports came from South Africa which accounted for $241,4 million of the total import bill. Zimbabwe has a cumulative negative balance of trade with South Africa amounting to $400 million. Singapore, the country’s main fuel supplier occupies the second spot with 146,6 million. Zambia, China and Mauritius complete the top with $57,2 million, $28,2 million and $20,6 million. For the full year, RBZ chief Dr Mangudya told FinX that total forex receipts for F18 are at $6,3 billion with total export receipts, which include January figures amounting to $4,2 billion ($4,5 billion shipments), diaspora remittances $1,1 billion while loan proceeds make up the remainder. – FinX
