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Beleaguered Zim's imports from SA worth $2bn

Harare - Zimbabwe imported goods worth US$2.26bn from South Africa for the 10 months ended October 31 2014.

According to figures released by the Zimbabwe Statistical Office, South Africa remains Zimbabwe's largest trading partner with imports of $2.26bn and exports of $1.58bn.

In total, Zimbabwe imported goods worth $5.2bn, some of them embarrassing for a country once touted as the bread basket of Africa.

Among the items imported by the beleaguered nation were $4.4m worth of mechanically deboned poultry cuts and offal.  

Sweet biscuits worth $9.49m were also brought in as well as $18.54m of water, including flavoured and sweetened.
 
With the bulk of Zimbabwe's manufacturing companies having collapsed and the remaining ones operating at less than 36%, major retailers have had to rely on South Africa to fill up their grocery shelves.

The Zimbabwean government recently increased tariffs on basic commodities in an effort to curb imports, but this has not stopped imports flowing in the country as shown by the graph (see bottom).

However, the country's trade deficit narrowed by 23.6% to $2.87bn in the period to October from $3.76bn in the year ago period, as business failures have mostly led to the drop in demand for imported capital goods.


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