Posted on :Tuesday , 14th January 2020

Manufacturing subactivity grew by 8.3 per cent in 2018 slightly higher compared with 8.2 per cent in the previous contributed largely by the expansion of the regional markets.

The ongoing investment and improvement of infrastructures as well as the stability in power supply reduced production costs.

The Bank of Tanzania (BoT) annual report 2018/19 manufacturing commodities continue to explore new markets opportunities particularly in the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) regions.

Manufacturing commodities with notable increase include building materials like cement, metal products and paints, food and beverages and wheat.

Industry and construction activity which includes mining, quarrying, manufacturing, construction, electricity and gas supply and water supply and sewage grew by 9.3 per cent compared with 10.6 per cent in 2017.

The contribution of manufacturing activity to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased to 8.1 per cent in 2018 from 7.7 per cent in 2017.

Meanwhile, production of natural gas, which is also a source of power, increased to 6 0,349.4 million standard cubic feet in 2018/19 from 53,907.1 million standard cubic feet in 2017/18 due to high demand for electricity generation and other industrial uses.

Electricity generated in 2018 was 7,307.6 million kWh compared with 7,010.4 million kWh in 2017 owing to increase in thermal power generation, particularly from gas powered turbines.