Zambia has record a trade deficit of K309 million in the month of February 2019 from a trade surplus of K938 million recorded in January 2019 which means that the country imported more than it exported in normal terms.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) Acting Director of Census and Statistics Goodson Sinyenga says exports decreased notably by 16.6 percent from K8, 373.6 million in January to K6,985.8 million in February this year.
The decrease in the value of exports is mainly attributed to the decrease in exports of intermediate goods by 22 percent and the net effect of these dynamics in trade was the trade deficit.
The Countries major export destination in February was Switzerland (home of Glencore, the parent company to Mopani Copper Mines) which accounted for 40.7 percent of the total export earnings while China was the second main export destination accounting for 17 percent.
The countries major source of import in February was South Africa accounting for 29.8 percent while China was second accounting for 18.6 percent.
Meanwhile, the year on year quarterly percentage growth at constant 2010 price shows that the economy grew by 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017.
The information and communications industry recorded the highest growth of 75.2 percent while the agriculture , forest and fishing industry has continued to record negative growth at -31.9 percent.
