Trade balance bounces back to P550m surplus

Staff Writer | Friday April 29, 2016 13:01

While imports rose by a huge 47 percent in the month, the trade statistics show that exports still emerged higher despite a modest slowdown.

According to the Botswana International Merchandise and Trade Statistics (BIMTS), total exports in February 2016 were valued at P6.4 billion, showing a decline of 8.6 percent from the January 2016 revised value of P7 billion.

“The decline was as a result of less export of rough diamonds during the current period. Total exports for February 2016 show a rise of 20.9 percent from the February 2015 value of P5.29 billion,” said Statistics Botswana.

 On the other hand, total imports were valued at P5.85 billion, showing an increase of 47.7 percent from the January 2016 revised value of P3.96 billion.

This was attributable to the high value of diamond imports for aggregation, during February 2016 as compared to imports of the same commodity during January 2016.

 As part of the 2011 agreement between De Beers and government, diamonds mined at the company’s mines outside of the country are brought to Botswana where they are aggregated and sold to sightholders.

A comparison of February 2016 import figures to February 2015 import value also shows a decrease of 12.7 percent from P6.7 billion recorded during February 2015 to P5.85 million recorded during the reference month.

“The decrease in import value in this case is mainly due to the low value of diamond imports for aggregation when comparing the two months,” said Statistics Botswana.

Composition of imports by principal commodities for February 2016 shows that diamonds contributed the most to total imports, with 41.5 percent, followed by machinery and electrical equipment with 11.0 percent, food beverages and tobacco with 9.9 percent (P581.2 million).

On the other hand, total exports in the month were valued at P6.4 billion, with 85.2 percent attributed to exports of diamonds. The exports consisted of diamonds from diamond polishing companies as well as those from the aggregation process.

Copper nickel, machinery and electrical equipment and meat and meat products contributed 6.6 percent, 2.5 percent and 1.3 percent respectively, to total exports during the month under review.