DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.2 percent in the second quarter of the year, compared with 6.1 percent seen in the same period last year, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The main drivers were construction, agriculture, and mining and quarrying activities, which altogether contributed about 67.7 percent of the growth, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) said in its economic bulletin for the quarter ending September.

The fastest growing activities were construction, which rose 19.6 percent; mining and quarrying, up 17.2 percent; information and communication, up 10.3 percent; and water, up 10.0 percent, the BoT said.

Inflation remained low and below the country's medium-term target of 5.0 percent, it said.

"Annual headline inflation averaged 3.6 percent in the quarter ending September 2019, marginally above 3.5 percent in the preceding quarter," the BoT said.

The exchange rate was stable throughout the quarter, averaging 2,300.60 Tanzanian shillings per U.S. dollar, compared with 2,283.79 shillings against the dollar in the quarter ending September 2018.

The movement of real exchange rate was also stable and close to its long-term path, driven by macroeconomic stability, the bank said.

External debt stock stood at 22.17 billion dollars at the end of September 2019, up from 21.92 billion dollars in the preceding quarter and 20.56 billion dollars at the end of September 2018, on account of loans contracted for development projects, it said.

The external debt remained sustainable as evidenced by the ratio of external debt service to exports of 19.4 percent compared with the threshold of 23.0 percent, the bank said.

Domestic debt stock fell to 14.06 trillion shillings, down from 14.86 trillion shillings and 14.15 trillion shillings at the end of June 2019 and September 2018, respectively, it said. Enditem

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