HARARE-- Zimbabwe suffered a trade deficit of 317 million US dollars in March, according to the latest trade figures from the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (Zimstat) which show that the country imported goods worth 606 million USD while exports amounted to only 289 million USD.
Compared with the same month last year, the country's trade deficit widened by 121 million USD from the 196 million USD reorded in March 2017, Zimstat reported here Sunday.
The data confirms that South Africa is the country?s leading trading partner accounting for nearly half of the exports as well as imports. Singapore and Japan also featured among top import sources while the United Arab Emirates and Mozambique were among top markets for local products.
Zimbabwe's top exports in March included minerals such as gold, ferrochrome and nickel ore concentrates as well as tobacco while imports were dominated by fuels -- diesel and petrol -- as well as electricity, motor vehicle parts, soybean oil.
In order to improve the overall performance of the economy, Zimbabwe's trade deficit is one of the major targets which the the new government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa has targeted at reversing through encouraging value addition of goods before export as well as by increasing local production to substitute certain imports.
Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK
