The Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr Mustapha Mkulo, said
this in Dar es Salaam yesterday when addressing participants to a
consultative Forum on the state of Tanzania's Economy in the face of
Global Financial and Economic crisis. He said the country has initiated
various measures to mitigate the effects of global financial crisis to
the national economy.
The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure Development
told the press later that the funds (50bn/-) were allocated for the
current financial year and that the government usually purchases at
least 400 new vehicles a year. On the effects of the crisis, Minister
Mkulo explained it was clear that Tanzania would be affected by the
crisis.
He mentioned various sectors which are the engines of the national
economy including agriculture that would be most affected. He said
apart from maintaining sufficient food stocks for the country's
Strategic Grain Reserve (SGR), efforts were also directed towards
provision of food relief to areas with critical shortage.
In this regards, the government has beefed-up budgetary resources to
subsidise production and use of fertilizer and other agro-inputs to
improve production and productivity in agricultural sector, he said.
As a result of the crisis, Tanzanian General Domestic Products (GDP)
growth will drop from the current 7.5 per cent to between 6.5 and 6.9
per cent and growth in agriculture will decline from 3.6 per cent in
2008 to 3.1 in 2009, according to the minister.
On tourism sector, the Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA) has
already registered a shortfall of 15 per cent of the expected number of
tourists visiting the country, Mr Mkulo explained, adding that in this
season alone, tourists arrivals were anticipated to fall by 18 per
cent. He said the coming national budget would equally be affected
bearing in mind that domestic revenues would also dwindle.
The government, he said, has urged Development Partners and the
international community to maintain their support to the General Budget
Support (GBS) to poor countries, including Tanzania, in view of the
likely shortfall in domestic revenues collection. We have also
encouraged private sector entrepreneurs to look for alternative markets
in the region as well as in Asia as a way to deal with the problem of
reduced demand for exports to their traditional European market, he
said.
On mining sector, the forum was told already tanzanite and diamonds
have dropped in the World Market. Tanzanite is sold at 200 US dollars
per carat from the previous 500 US dollars per carat. Diamond dropped
by almost 60 per cent. According to the Ministry of Energy and
Minerals, the opening of the Kabanga Nickel Project in Kagera Region
was delayed, thus, another delay of the revenue to the government
totalling about 1.9million US dollars.
The ministry further announced that about 200 workers of North Mara
Gold Mines would be retrenched while other companies are now pulling
out from previously viable ventures. The financial crisis should be
taken as a wake-up call to our country by reducing donor dependency and
using energy efficient technologies," reads part of the presentation by
the ministry. The meeting continues today where other stakeholders will
present their deliberations.
Daily News
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