Zambia records trade surplus

BUUMBA CHIMBULU writes @SunZambian ZAMBIA recorded a trade surplus of K7.15 billion in November 2020 compared to a surplus of K6.5 billion in October 2020. This is according to the Zambia Statistics Agency (ZamStats), Interim Statistician General Mulenga Musepa. Mr Musepa said exports which mainly comprised of domestically produced merchandise, increased by 7.0 percent to K16.41 billion in November 2020 from K15.34 billion in October 2020. “This was mainly on account of a 79.3 percent and 1.8 percent increase in export earnings from Raw materials and Intermediate goods, respectively. “Imports increased by 4.7 percent to K9.25 billion in November 2020 from K8.84 billion in October 2020,” he said during a press briefing in Lusaka recently. Mr Musepa said this increase in imports was mainly as a result of a 42.6 percent and 10.3 percent increase in imports of Consumer goods and Raw materials, respectively. He said the total trade for the period January 2020 to November 2020 was K215.42 billion while the total trade for the same period of 2019 was K166.80 billion. Mr Musepa said this represented a 29.2 percent increase. He indicated that total value of exports via all modes of transport for the period January 2020 to November 2020 was K128.6 billion. “Road transport accounted K91.8 Billion representing 71.4 percent, rail transport was second at K9.7 billion and Air transport accounted for K2.8 billion during the same period. “Other modes of transport accounted for K24.4 billion,” Mr Musepa said. He said the total volume of exports for the period January to November 2020 was 6.14 million metric tonnes, of which road transport accounted for 4.3 million tonnes, representing 70.1 percent of total volume exported. Rail transport, he said, accounted for 95.0 thousand tonnes exported, representing 1.5 percent. Mr Musepa indicated that the air transport accounted for 3.9 thousand tonnes. “The total value of Imports via all modes of transport for the period January 2020 to November 2020 was K86.8 billion. Road transport was the highest at K44.3 Billion representing 51.0 percent, followed by Air transport at K9.1 billion (10.5 percent),” he said.