Tanzania exports more goods than what authorities officially record, says a senior official.

The director general of the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (Tantrade), Ms Jacqueline Maleko, told The Citizen that many goods were exported to neighbouring countries unnoticed, with the country officially recording lower export volumes.

“A lot of goods pass the border unrecorded. We are feeding Kenya with cereals, fruits and vegetables but such exports are unrecorded. Kenyans come with trucks, load them and leave Tanzania without any record,” she said.

She said if proper measures were put in place to record every product for export the country would get shocked to learn how much it exports. Tantrade discovered that a lot of people who cross borders were from the informal sector. They are mainly women and young people.

“You find that even as there are simplified rules of origin, most informal traders don’t know the existence of such rules. As a result, they pass through informal routes,” said Ms Maleko. To ensure traders use formal routes Tantrade has initiated a programme of women informal cross-border traders which is implemented in collaboration with the International Trade Centre.

“With the programme we train women on the regulations and all procedures involved to enable them to cross the borders. Such a training programme will raise awareness on cross-border trade, making them use formal routes when crossing borders.” Tanzania’s earnings from exported goods and services increased by 6.4 per cent in the year ending July 2014, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) data shows.

The BoT’s economic review for August established that the value of exports increased to $8.895 billion in the year ending July 2014 as travel, manufactured goods and traditional exports increased significantly during the period.

Annual income from travel or tourism, which is currently the leading foreign exchange earner, improved from $1.788 billion last July to $1.998 billion this July, according to the BoT statement.

The value of manufactured goods exports increased from $1.01 billion to $1.27 billion.