Tanzania: Economic Growth Fails to Reflect

East African Business Week (Kampala)

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By Kenan Kalagho, 19 November 2012

Dar es Salaam — Government has been asked to improve sector interconnection to allow the movement of the economy in the way that could benefit majority of the citizens.

Speaking during the launch of the Second Tanzania Economic update symposium that was organized by the World Bank, renowned economist and lecturer of the University of Dar es salaam Prof. Samuel Wangwe said itwas important for the government to focus on Small and Medium Enterprises (SME's) if the country was determined to move the economy forward.

(Pro. Wangwe of REPOA Centre stressing a point  during the recent update of Tanzania Economic update review conducted by the World Bank Photo By Kenan Kalagho)

Prof. Wangwe said that instead of the government focusing on large entrepreneurship business which touch few citizens, it was high time that every citizen participated by targeting SME's that employ majority of the Tanzanians.
"There is no way we are going to feel the growth for individuals if we do not target the rural economy where the majority of the population is involved in the production process on a small scale," he said.
Wangwe said that the country needed to look at how to create a good investment climate that would lead to job creation so as to solve the urbanization issue while at the same time looking at how the rural population would benefit from agriculture through subsidy programs and market access.
The second biannual Tanzania economic update stated that despite the country's difficult external environment, it still managed to post a macroeconomic growth of 6% over the past year which according to the report, resulted from the government's flexibility in utilizing fiscal and monetary policies.
The report titled "Spreading the wings: From Economic growth to shared prosperity" is aimed at fostering constructive policy dialogue between stakeholders and policy makers to stimulate debates on essential economic issues.
The lead economist with the World Bank for Tanzania, Burundi and Uganda, Mr. Jacques Morisset noted that with a GDP growth rate of 6.5% during the 2011/12 and manageable fiscal and current account deficits, Tanzania has performed better than most developed countries and better than many emerging economies, including India and Brazil.
However many experts argued that there was need for the country to look at the economic trends that would reflect the improvement in the lives of majority of the citizens instead of weighing the economy by looking at sectors like mining, hospitality and telecommunication.