admin
According to a recent report, Tanzania has become Uganda’s number one import option within the East African Community (EAC).
This is a result of Uganda’s gold trade worth close to US$3 billion. Uganda typically buys unrefined gold and re-sells the refined product. It has a market for this product with the EAC, Asia, the EU and more.
Uganda’s Ministry of Finance recently revealed that the country buys more goods from Tanzania than any other East African nation.
The Ministry’s Performance of the Economy report for June showed that, in the 12 months leading to May, 83 percent of all products Uganda sourced from the EAC came from Tanzania.
This amounted to a Shs1,6 trillion out of the Shs1,9 trillion sourced from imports within the EAC.
As seen in the Ugandan newspaper, The Monitor, the trade with Tanzania results from a sustained increase in the import of gold and rice.
For some time, Kenya stood as Uganda’s number one import destination from the EAC, up until 2021, when the trade dynamics within the sub-region began to shift.
While the report failed to specify how much gold Tanzania traded with Uganda during the period under review, the Bank of Uganda revealed that the country imported mineral products, 90 percent of which were gold worth US$2,7 billion.
Uganda sometimes imports gold from Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo, after which it is refined and exported. – Business Insider Africa
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter