Tanzania - Commercial service exports (current US$)

The value for Commercial service exports (current US$) in Tanzania was 2,179,572,000 as of 2020. As the graph below shows, over the past 44 years this indicator reached a maximum value of 4,276,373,000 in 2019 and a minimum value of 82,034,380 in 1977.

Definition: Commercial service exports are total service exports minus exports of government services not included elsewhere. International transactions in services are defined by the IMF's Balance of Payments Manual (1993) as the economic output of intangible commodities that may be produced, transferred, and consumed at the same time. Definitions may vary among reporting economies.

Source: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files.

See also:

Year Value
1976 107,081,800
1977 82,034,380
1978 94,527,390
1979 139,960,100
1980 165,068,600
1981 184,825,100
1982 114,515,400
1983 106,346,900
1984 105,805,200
1985 105,595,500
1986 100,740,100
1987 105,337,100
1988 117,391,000
1989 117,264,300
1990 130,619,000
1991 142,308,700
1992 169,901,300
1993 310,950,100
1994 410,503,000
1995 566,274,600
1996 601,893,200
1997 469,677,200
1998 533,730,000
1999 575,600,700
2000 575,401,100
2001 854,215,000
2002 860,218,000
2003 899,801,900
2004 1,074,359,000
2005 1,215,306,000
2006 1,467,030,000
2007 1,836,305,000
2008 1,965,677,000
2009 1,794,846,000
2010 2,001,432,000
2011 2,256,435,000
2012 2,753,502,000
2013 3,169,476,000
2014 3,380,034,000
2015 3,374,006,000
2016 3,577,090,000
2017 3,811,899,000
2018 3,999,793,000
2019 4,276,373,000
2020 2,179,572,000

Development Relevance: Trade in services differs from trade in goods because services are produced and consumed at the same time. Thus services to a traveler may be consumed in the producing country (for example, use of a hotel room) but are classified as imports of the traveler's country. In other cases services may be supplied from a remote location; for example, insurance services may be supplied from one location and consumed in another.

Limitations and Exceptions: Balance of payments statistics, the main source of information on international trade in services, have many weaknesses. Disaggregation of important components may be limited and varies considerably across countries. There are inconsistencies in the methods used to report items. And the recording of major flows as net items is common (for example, insurance transactions are often recorded as premiums less claims). These factors contribute to a downward bias in the value of the service trade reported in the balance of payments. Efforts are being made to improve the coverage, quality, and consistency of these data. Eurostat and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, for example, are working together to improve the collection of statistics on trade in services in member countries. Still, difficulties in capturing all the dimensions of international trade in services mean that the record is likely to remain incomplete. Cross-border intrafirm service transactions, which are usually not captured in the balance of payments, have increased in recent years. An example is transnational corporations' use of mainframe computers around the clock for data processing, exploiting time zone differences between their home country and the host countries of their affiliates. Another important dimension of service trade not captured by conventional balance of payments statistics is establishment trade - sales in the host country by foreign affiliates. By contrast, cross-border intrafirm transactions in merchandise may be reported as exports or imports in the balance of payments.

Statistical Concept and Methodology: The balance of payments (BoP) is a double-entry accounting system that shows all flows of goods and services into and out of an economy; all transfers that are the counterpart of real resources or financial claims provided to or by the rest of the world without a quid pro quo, such as donations and grants; and all changes in residents' claims on and liabilities to nonresidents that arise from economic transactions. All transactions are recorded twice - once as a credit and once as a debit. In principle the net balance should be zero, but in practice the accounts often do not balance, requiring inclusion of a balancing item, net errors and omissions. The concepts and definitions underlying the data are based on the sixth edition of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Balance of Payments Manual (BPM6). Balance of payments data for 2005 onward will be presented in accord with the BPM6. The historical BPM5 data series will end with data for 2008, which can be accessed through the World Development Indicators archives. The complete balance of payments methodology can be accessed through the International Monetary Fund website (www.imf.org/external/np/sta/bop/bop.htm).

Aggregation method: Gap-filled total

Periodicity: Annual

Classification

Topic: Private Sector & Trade Indicators

Sub-Topic: Exports