‘Tanzania posts economic growth’

DAR ES SALAAM. — The World Bank said on Monday that Tanzania was among several countries in Africa which had posted robust economic growth despite weak global economic conditions.

“Together with Ethiopia, Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire as well as Mozambique, these countries are expected to sustain the economic growth rate at around 7 percent or more in the next two years,” said the World Bank’s Acting Chief Economist Punam Chuhan-Pole.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund said Tanzania’s recent macroeconomic developments have continued to be broadly favourable.

Chuhan-Pole told a meeting via international video conferencing from Washington that global economic growth will slow to 3,7 percent this year — down from 4,6 percent in the last one year.

Chuhan-Pole said sub-Saharan African countries have survived the bad economic times because they were transforming from agricultural production to more modern forms of investment.

“To withstand new shocks, governments in the region should improve the efficiency of public expenditures, such as prioritising key investments and strengthen tax administration,’’ said Chuhan-Pole.

The IMF said in a statement that the east African nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to have grown by 6,5 percent in the first quarter of 2015, with strong performance recorded in transport, electricity generation, and information, communication, and financial services.

“Economic growth is expected to remain close to 7 percent in the remainder of 2015 and in 2016,” said the statement issued in the commercial capital Dar es Salaam at the end of a two-week IMF mission to review the country’s economic performance.

The mission met with Saada Mkuya Salum, the Minister of Finance, Benno Ndulu, the Governor of the Bank of Tanzania, and other senior government officials.

The statement said inflation rose gradually in the past few months to 6.4 percent in August 2015.

“This was largely driven by supply side factors, particularly food prices, and the exchange rate depreciation in the first half of 2015, which raised the domestic cost of imports and partly offset the relief from the fall in global oil prices,” said the statement. — Xinhua.