Seaweed exports and economic growth of Zanzibar

Abstract

The aim of this paper was to examine the contribution of seaweed export and economic growth in Zanzibar. The study used time series quarterly data from 2000 to 2018 and applied Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method to estimate the results. The estimated results showed that seaweed export has a positive but insignificant effect with economic growth of Zanzibar. The results also showed that labour had a positive but insignificant effect while capital had a negative and insignificant effect with economic growth of Zanzibar. Furthermore, the results showed a positive significant effect on the exchange rate to economic growth of Zanzibar. The study then recommends that the Zanzibar government should increase the price of seaweed products to local farmers so as to encourage them to engage in seaweed farming and this would ultimately increase the seaweed production and consequently increase seaweed export.