Economy · Current account balance · Tanzania
Tanzania’s current account balance rose to −3% of GDP in 2024.
−3% of GDP
2024
Up 0.74 pp from 2023.
Updated 8 Oct 2026
In plain words
−3% of GDP
What it is. The current account balance adds up everything Tanzania earns from the rest of the world and pays to it through trade in goods and services, income on investment and transfers such as money sent home by workers abroad. The total is divided by GDP so that years and countries of different sizes can be compared. It leaves out capital and financial flows such as loans and share purchases, which are how a deficit gets paid for.
Higher is better. A higher balance is better because a smaller deficit, or a surplus, means the economy relies less on foreign borrowing and investment to cover its bills. The latest figure for 2024 is −3% of GDP, up from −3.7% of GDP a year earlier, a gain of 0.74 percentage points. Since 2015 the range runs from a low of −7.2% of GDP in 2022 to a high of −2.2% of GDP in 2019. The 2024 reading sits much closer to the best level of the period than to the worst.
Why it matters. A deficit of −3% of GDP means Tanzania pays abroad more than it receives, and the gap has to be financed by foreign loans, investment or drawing on reserves. A narrower gap eases pressure on the shilling, which matters to firms importing fuel, machinery and other inputs and to households buying imported goods. The 2019 level of −2.2% of GDP is the mark to check next against.
| Period | Current account balance · Tanzania |
|---|---|
| 2015 | −5.5% of GDP |
| 2016 | −2.4% of GDP |
| 2017 | −2.8% of GDP |
| 2018 | −4.1% of GDP |
| 2019 | −2.2% of GDP |
| 2020 | −2.2% of GDP |
| 2021 | −3.4% of GDP |
| 2022 | −7.2% of GDP |
| 2023 | −3.7% of GDP |
| 2024 | −3% of GDP |
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0) · Licence: CC BY 4.0
How to read this number
- Source
- Who published the figure
- Published
- When they released it
- Verified
- When we last checked it against the source
Every change is logged in Corrections. How the figure is made: Methodology.
Cite this number
Show text
Strata-AF™ Data, Current account balance, Tanzania, 2024; source World Bank, World Development Indicators (CC BY 4.0), retrieved 8 Oct 2026; https://data.strata-af.com/economy/current-account-balance/tanzania
Data insights · Worked out from the published figures
What this means
Working this out from the published figures…
Strata AI commentary is coming — reviewed, dated, and generated only from the figures on this page.
Methodology
Current account balance as a share of GDP. Unit: % of GDP. A negative value is a deficit.
Source: World Bank, World Development Indicators (series BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS), retrieved through the World Bank API and published under CC BY 4.0. Updated annually; the World Bank's own source notes apply.