Tanzania’s Current Account Shortfall Narrowed to $2.42 Billion in April

Tanzania’s current-account deficit narrowed to $2.42 billion in the 12 months through April from $2.44 billion in the same period a year earlier, the Bank of Tanzania said.

The decline came after exports increased more than imports, the Dar es Salaam-based central bank said in an e-mailed statement today. Gold exports from Tanzania, which vies with Mali to be Africa’s third-biggest producer of the metal, climbed 14 percent to $1.62 billion.

Foreign currency reserves amounted to $3.7 billion by the end of April, enough to cover imports in East Africa’s second- biggest economy for 4.6 months.

The national debt rose $176.3 million to $11.4 billion in April from the month before.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Malingha Doya in Dar es Salaam at dmalingha@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.